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Mpls/St Paul Magazine sent out a survey to 100 "hipsters" and compiled the results for their February cover story. You can read the survey answers of the cover models, but to see how PBR, the Walker expansion, Spyhouse Coffee Bar, and even mnspeak.com rank on the XY axis of earnest-ironic and highbrow-lowbrow, you'll have to flip to page 77 while waiting in line at Uptown Kowalski's.
Born in Texas, she's lived "all over the U.S. and Europe," earning impossibly hipsterish degrees -- urban studies at the New School in New York and a master's in environmental education at Hamline in St. Paul
Bwahahahahahahahaha! And this, my friends -- among 99 other reasons -- is why these Twin Cities are not very hip at all.
Those apostrophes were apparently too hip to be reproduced here on MNspeak....
With the exception of a few, these people are are the anti-christ to hipsters. They are Cake Eaters. But you cant expect much else from MplsStPaul Mag.
Like it or not, an urban studies degree from the New School really is pretty hipsterish no matter where the hell you live. But, I know, it's more hip to act cynical.
I've fixed your apostrophes.
I know "hip people" who were asked to complete the incredibly long survey and despite the follow-up calls to get their info, they declined. Can't say I blame 'em. They don't need to go around blabbing about this and that and what's hot and not because they're too darn busy doing their "thang". They're comfortable keeping to themselves and they don't want to give all of their top secrets away to the likes of us. Plus, the survey takes like an hour to fill out and do you think if you're a top mover-shaker you have time for that?
Puhhhhleeez. I finished that thing in 10 minutes while talking on the phone, and the most you'll learn about my "top secrets" is that I like coffee at Spyhouse.
The hate is so thick 'round here lately.
I won't even comment on the fact that I was not even considered. But, then, Dominique Serrand once called me "fascistic," so perhaps he blackballed me.
Oops. I just commented.
Not trying to hate, but I just don't picture these guys as hipsters. Scenesters maybe.
These people are hipsters.
Here, here on the "not hipsters" meme. These people are flat-out yuppies. Professional fashion designers, people who drive Range Rovers, and someone who would list Starbucks (in Minneapolis, fer Christ's Sakes) as their favorite coffee shop is/are 99% unhip for those three reasons alone.
No offense to wealth or having a wonderful career, but hipsters are people others want to be like, almost by definition. Not people you strive to not be like if you're rich and successful someday.
I haven't seen the print version yet, so I don't know how I'll feel about the overall choices. But the small online sample has two friends and two acquaintances on it who deserve to be recognized.... for something, even if "hipster" is the worst double-edge epithet of our time.
You get points for being ultra-quick with answering it by phone. If one were to write it out, it would take about an hour, but whatever. There's no hate. Everytime someone doesn't like something, we get accused of hatin' someone. Being honest is not hate. Hate is a pretty big and strong word. It's called sick of hipster crapola. I don't hate anyone, period.
I answered with a pencil, while talking to someone on the phone. It was a one-page survey.
Like it or not, an urban studies degree from the New School really is pretty hipsterish no matter where the hell you live. But, I know, it's more hip to act cynical.
Setting aside the difference between "impossibly hipsterish" and "pretty hipsterish," the fact that Minnesnowta winds up with the 1 of 10,000 students from the New School who wants to live at home with her parents in Stillwater, drive an SUV, and drink coffee at Starbucks while kicking an aristocratic B-girl 'that-shit-is-prisliss, yo' patois -- well, I myself consider it an illustration of why this isn't the hippest state in the Lower 48. But then again, I'm cynical.
At least reading that made *me* feel hip.
I feel like I just attended the worst dinner party ever.
Who wants to joint me for a Budweiser and a shot on the way home?
Boy, I know I always go to MSP when I want to know who's hip in town. Right after I look up who are the best doctors and lawyers and who's got the killer creme brulee.
I know the Wicka family very well, and they are pretty darn swell! Yes, total hipsters but very nice and a shit hot time to be around!
umm, guys? please. forget page 77.
it's all about page 32. you must pay attention to my fucking kitten.
I bet you drive an SUV, too. ;)
Rex, I guess pencils are the new pens? No one really takes the survey and the fact that it's in Mpls/St. Paul Magazine very seriously. I'll read the survey in full when I'm in the waiting room of my dermatologist's office, as I'm waiting to have a zit popped. I think if they removed the word "hipster" from the article, it might take away the gag reflex.
I got a kick out of the article. It started by admitting that MSP Mag wasn't exactly hip... but I thought it was fun. Heavy on interior design types in the list of "hipsters"... In our newsroom, we talked about doing a story in advance of the article, and they wanted me to do it. I pointed out what it says about CCO when they look at our reporters and say, "We need someone hip. Get DeRusha." Youch.
I think they should remove the word "Hipster" and replace it with "pretentious Jackasses".
it's all about Page 32! Chuck has a cute Fucking KITTEN!
I'm all over cute fucking kittens. If Mpls/St. Paul mag did a "hipster" kitten issue, well, then I'd be all over it and take back my supposed hatin'. I vote for Chuck and his pussy. Meow.
F*** this survey you guys, if for no other reason than the new incarnation of Moose & Sadie's sucks a bunch.
We should start our own hip list. I nominate Robyne Robinson (who I saw at the MCAD rock poster show) and Yuri Aryas (who not only runs O&O gallery, but always has amazing shows up around the TC.
You guys are hip enough to decide who's hip?
Isn't saying that other people are unhip actually UNHIP ITSELF? Doesn't that by definition make the people you're decrying as unhip hipper than you simply by the fact that they aren't going around on hip message boards accusing hip people of being unhip?
I think so, anyway.
The answer to your question Jonny is a big NO. Who deems themself as 'hip'? I don't give a toss whether anyone who's on the list likes me, thinks I'm hip, and thinks they're hip, for that matter. The word hip is so trite. It smacks of mediocrity. Hip hip f___cking hooray!
I kind of have wide hips for a boy. I got 'em from my dad. I don't know if that makes me hipper than most fellas, or if I'm just some kind of hippie.
Chuck, is that a vagina on your wall, or are you just happy to be hip?
These people are yupsters -- yuppies with a creative sensibility.
Pencils rok!
I would call these people "urban" rather than "hipsters." Take the mag out to Redwood Falls or Warroad and see what they get called.
Damn, why all the hate! We can be hip, too, you know.
I don't get it zosia... not sure if people have read the whole article or if they're just commenting on the web version with the seven people on the cover. I mean, I'm seriously miffed that I wasn't surveyed so I could talk about all the hip things I do while burping my 7-month-old... but come on! It was a fun article...
Yupsters. I love it.
Ugh. Are the Cities turning into NYC or something with the press-appointed hipster elite defining what's cool and what's not?
Nothing against hipsters and creatives in general (I'm a creative myself) but damn, how did Mpls-St Paul magazine find such a group of pretentious and self-important people without going to NYC or LA?
I usually call people like in this article Hipsters, with a capital H. While people that know about cool music, coffee shops, neighborhoods, before the rest of Minneapolis are just hip. Hipsters want to be noticed, hipsters just are that way. I think a lot of people on MNSpeak are hip, but probably none are Hip.
And what's with copping the style of Vanity Fair's group covers?
Ohmygod, did we steal that gatefold from Vanity Fair? My editor said we were going to be stealing from Vice! What a gyp. And, yes, it is hip to be racist against gypsies.
And forget about the hipsters article, you hairsplitters. Check out my piece on the potato farm heiresses on page 28.
My grandmother was a gypsy, so now we have to duel, stevemarsh, to defend her honor. Name the place.
Also, I haven't read the articles, but I bet if the hipsters come off as insufferable, surely the angle was to extract the most stereotypical hipster attributes from each person, so no wonder they might seem 2D.
They're not 2D, Zosia, they're just skinny. But we should've passed out 3D glasses with the mag. How hipster would that have been?
That would've been too hip to function. Can I request that for the next issue, no matter what it is? "Best Doctors in Mpls - 3D."
Hmm. I think next month it's best restaurants. In 3D, David Fhima's nose would rise straight off your coffee table, Z. Or, I think may is "home tours," so with the glasses, you could take a tour of a Wayzata McMansion from the cold comfort of your own classic uptown apartment!
I tend to think of people of the sort who appear in this article as "people." Y'know, in the sense that they have fears and desires like you do, love and are loved back by a family and friends, and have a valuable place in the world.
I stopped labeling people based on their socioeconomic status when I frickin' GREW UP.
I want you to know that I'm in the middle of class right now, reading all your comments as a tape recording of Hitler plays in the background. This is coloring everything really strangely for me.
Damn. I kinda wanted the 3D doctor's exam.
I wish you actually had ripped off Vice. Mpls.St.Paul could use a little more sleaze.
I'd like to request "Best Theoretical Astrophysicist in Mpls - 4D"
I tend to think of people of the sort who appear in this article as "people." Y'know, in the sense that they have fears and desires like you do, love and are loved back by a family and friends, and have a valuable place in the world.
Hippy.
Yeah...jesus. Take a day off from the meds.
I am bothered by the use of the word hipster. They're not hipsters. Hipsters don't drive G55s.
They carry a shoulder-strap messenger bag and have at one time or another worn a pair of horn-rimmed or Elvis Costello-style glasses.
They have one Republican friend who you always describe as being their "one Republican friend."
Their hair looks best unwashed and they position their head on their pillow at night in a way that will really maximize their cowlicks.
I second the vote for more sleaze. Maybe a shocking expose on Highland Park's seedy underbelly?
LESS HIPPIES, MORE SLEAZE!!
Perhaps we could conduct the same survey of the members here... and see how the answers differ? Or don't? I love that people get worked up over the word "hipster," though. It's not like MSP Mag is intended for the so called "hipsters." It's for my suburban mother-in-law.
zenrhino: Ugh. Are the Cities turning into NYC or something with the press-appointed hipster elite defining what's cool and what's not?
Not as long our elite are appointed by Mpls. St-Paul Magazine.
Just sayin': I tend to think of people of the sort who appear in this article as "people." Y'know, in the sense that they have fears and desires like you do, love and are loved back by a family and friends, and have a valuable place in the world.
Possibly, but their value does not necessarily lie in being "hipsters" -- let alone in being held out to the readers of Mpls. St-Paul Magazine as "hipsters" -- which is why it is sooooooo much fun to pick nits.
I would, however, like to see a Minnesnowta version of this.
For some reason, the article I linked to doesn't have a title. It's the New York Press's 2005 list of the "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers."
Chuck Klosterman (described as "a North Dakota circus monkey") logged in at number 38 on New York Press' 2004 list of the "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers."
NYpress has always had a strange anti-Chuck thing though.
zenrhino: how did Mpls-St Paul magazine find such a group of pretentious and self-important people without going to NYC or LA?
Easy, they looked for other Minnesotans, which made them really really really likely to find pretentious and self-important people. :)
none of the 'cover models' have kids (or at least none of them live with kids). the other day one of my [kidless] yupster coworkers told me that 'kids are so trendy right now'. guess he was wrong.
Wuh? Did you actually read the cover model surveys? Because there's a couple with kids in there...
I've been hating on Chuck Klosterman since his insipid Fargo Forum column! Take that, NYC!
This conversation makes me wish I had never learned to read. No one had better talk any shit about Ian Grant, as he is so f'ing awesome, hipster or not.
Why hate on starbucks? Thats so easy. See, your showing why noone would care what your opinion is. She's right, sometimes indie coffee shops taste like burnt cigarettes. The format of that survey made them come off a little wonkey, but I know some of them and yes, they are very interesting people who do interesting things.
The internet forum is the high school lunchroom of life. Does it bother you that much that the Lindsey the head cheerleader is sitting with Brock the football captain?
An article about interesting people with an unfortunate title of "hipster"
Luke -- CK's Forum columns were the shit. I still remember when he ate nothing but McNuggets for a week straight. Genius, if for no other reason than because the super-conservatives who run that paper actually paid him to do it.
If this is the high school lunchroom of life, I wonder how many of us sat at the Yearbook table?
So true, Rich... I was at the radio station table. Sometimes with the theatre people.
If we wouldn't have used the word "hipster" nobody would have cared. Instead, we used the word "hipster" and, sure enough, MNspeak.com was embroiled in a flamewar over Chuck Klosterman's hip factor a half hour before noon.
Totally. There are a ton of interesting people in this thing -- people who, as I said earlier, deserve to be recognized in some way. But everyone seems so attached to tired tropes that go either a) local magazines suck, b) creative people who make $50K are yuppies, or c) hipsters suck.
(I'll argue either side of Klosterman's hip factor with anyone.)
I sat at the yearbook table. I also pinned my jeans in junior high. See, that was the "hip" thing to do. But since I did it to be hip, I really wasn't hip at all. Now, Gawker is pretty "hip," or at least a good judge of that illusive quality. Which makes Blue States Lose hilariously unhip. (Please tell me you were being ironic, Jibbers!) Incidentally, I realize how unhip I'm being by even commenting. It's a glorious thing not to care. And I still like reading about creative people, whether they're labeled hipsters or not.
i stand corrected, looks like the hip couple does indeed have kids. trend watchers take note.
Marsh- I just finished the entire article... as I'll encourage everyone who has an opinion to do... and it's fun. It's got a ton of interesting people I never heard of. And I enjoyed it. What's a better way to label the story on the cover? Check out these interesting people and find out what they do? Or call them "Hipsters".
Almost every one of the so-called "hipsters" comments on how unhip it is to admit to being hip and answer a survey about hipness. I enjoyed that.
a) local magazines suck
- They do
b) creative people who make $50K are yuppies
- They are
c) hipsters suck
- They do
Whatever happened to that brief moment in time (I believe it was the two months proceeding the release of Beck's Sea Change and Klosterman's Fargo Rock City -- and throw in the rise of emo) in which "sincerity is the new hip" became a possibility? That lasted for 15 minutes, and now we're back to hate as the new hip.
Or maybe I'm being ironic. I can't even tell anymore.
Whatever your personal affiliation with the cognoscenti gracing the cover, you have to admit that a survey where 3 1/2 of 8 "hipsters" name Starbucks or Caribou as their favorite coffeehouse is not a far cry from a survey where 3 1/2 of 8 "foodies" name Applebee's as their favorite neighborhood bistro.
Rex, people are going round and round about this is because the article -- which I am very much looking forward to reading, by the way -- holds these people (you people?) out as "hipsters" when, on the one hand, it's unclear what that term means; and, on the other hand, it's debatable whether the term applies to the people whose interviews we've been able to read.
I don't think there's anything wrong with questioning Mpls St. Paul Magazine's competence to find "hipsters," let alone those who "keep us on the cutting edge." (A debatable premise, by the way.) If anything, I think the whole debate over hipsters, yuppies, etc. is problematized because the discussion started with an intro to only 9 of the 60 subjects. And while some of these people are clearly important, influential, and so on, I'm not sure whether I would classify them as "hipsters." That's all I'm saying.
In closing, I am pretty sure the word "hipster" has been nothing but an epithet for the past few years. I can't think of the last time I heard it used positively; it's almost always applied to white-belted teenyboppers.
Hey. I wear a white belt.
I'd rather have a Starbucks latte over say a Ginko latte any day. What cares about image when you're hoping to satisfy your caffiene addiction and actually enjoy it?
3 Degrees of Hipster
1. Unaware of hipster status, doesn't conform to hipster norms: truly hip
2. Self hating hipster or self congratulatory hipster: not hip
3. Run of the mill anti-hip-ites: may be argued to be hip or unhip
Mike S: I disagree on the competence point, simply because there's no one more qualified at any publication in town (from Profane Existence to The Star-Tribune) to research local hipsters than Steve Marsh. (Take that double-egded sword, Marsh!)
But I think we at least have some sort of agreement on this point: never use the word hipster and we'll be fine. I'm sure "creative class" (hipsters with condos?) won't fly either, but that's probably a little closer to the demographic.
a) local magazines suck
Minnesota actually has fantastic local magazines. Minnesota Monthly, MinneapolisSt.Paul, The Rake, and the UTNE Reader are all supadupa.
Minnesota Yuppie? Not.
Without reading the article, it's hard to comment intelligently, but do you think Marsh might've been constrained by the medium? I mean, MSP Mag has a certain demographic it needs to cater/pander to. That demographic might look askance at featuring a less affluent/accomplished "hipster."
Lisa, you rock.
richq makes an excellent point.
Rich: Sure, I think so. I imagine editorial meetings went a little something like, "Can we get a little more grey hair in here? How about more people with kids?"
But really, aren't your parents interested in seeing what those wacky downtown kids are doing nowadays?
Yes, the mag must cater to those who can support it's advertising base, e.g. anything David Fhima starts, and upscale home furnishing purveyors.
Therefore, what or who is deemed hip is derived from the calculated viewpoint of the well-moneyed 35-54 crowd.
Which I believe eliminates most of the super groovy trendster-pups on this blog.
Check back in 10 years.
RE: Local Magz. Let's randomly take this month's Minnesota Monthly. You've got these interesting stories about an unheard of local filmmaker about to break big, Olympic curlers with pizza joints in Bemidji, an update on Bill Pohlad (Carl's son) and his production of Brokeback Mountain, a cool profile of Nate On Drums, and an interview with the 52 Fights author. And that's just the online stuff. How can you hate that? And Minnesota Monthly ain't even the best mag in town.
On the other hand, I want to kill, kill, kill when I see the fucking dentists on the cover.
Lisa, you're right: We should not be image conscious outside of our shopping at Len Druskin or getting our hair done at Juut.
Whatever happened to that moment in time (I believe it was called "the Battle in Seattle") when misguided but progressive-minded people were smashing Starbucks' windows. Now, in this September 12 world, we are left to praise the virtue of their lattes.
A few things:
1) I've been meaning to say this for a while, but Steve Marsh is totally my favorite MNSpeaker. He's hilarious. I actually almost bought the last issue of MSP Magazine solely because his comments here always make me laugh. (My other half wouldn't let me, claiming he already had a copy although I have yet to see it.) That said, I'm totally buying this new issue, and I'm going to put the photo of Rex in a locket that I'll wear around my neck 24/7. (Said locket will also have a photo of Babe Ruth.)
2) Rex, I can't help but think you wouldn't be so sensitive about this topic if you hadn't been one of the chosen hipsters. And I also can't help but think some of the, ahem, "haters" who've commented here would have a very different opinion if they had been one of the chosen hipsters.
3) I think the term "hipster" is hilarious, especially when people get so upset about it. Everyone knows a hipster when they see one, but the, uh, coolest hipsters can laugh about being a hipster. The real tragedy is when a hipster refers to him/herself as a hipster without a trace of irony.
4) I also think it's funny there are people still angry about stuff Chuck Klosterman wrote in The Forum, like, 10 years ago(!) I look back on those days with great fondness because, in retrospect, it's amazing how much fairly subversive stuff got into that paper that, indeed, was and is still run by a right-wing family. One of my favorite things Chuck ever did was ask some local beauty pageant winner that, if she were forced, would she rather become a prostitute or a stripper. Good times!
Touché, Tate.
2) They picked 100 people. I hardly feel part of the elite. Mostly, I like arguing about the word hipster. I've completely lost any sense of what it means anymore.
What's worse, being called a hipster or a blogger?
Synonyms.
Actually, I'm trying to remember if the survey even used the word hipster. I don't remember it being there.
Disclaimer: I know there's talented people working there. And I'm not trying to be a hater (really!).
But I can't leaf through an entire issue of Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine without having to suppress the gag reflex. It's an advertorial product for shameless status seekers. It's for people who think restaurants in St. Louis Park are trendy.
"Here's an infographic telling you the 8 places in the Twin Cities where you can buy a Viking Range. And it so happens that 6 of them are our advertisers!"
Next month: Join us as we tour the homes of local TV anchors.
Oh come on Ross, what about me?
Once a magazine that my parents read, like Mpls St Paul, uses the term "Hipster", it's completely lost whatever relative meaning it used to have. See "uncool". Therefore, lets all agree that MSP Mag killed the term hipster and forever has no meaning.
Rex -- yeah, don't miss the dead trees edition, with yet another article on the lake homes of the rich and famous. Or is it about fabulous Bed and Breakfasts this month?
>>> That lasted for 15 minutes, and now we're back to hate as the new hip.
I know. It really bothers me, actually. Ever since the 90s we can't have five minutes where dripping irony and/or actual cruelty aren't the "mood of the moment." Bleh. It gets so old. Call me a hippy too, but I just don't get the freakin' point of dissing on groups of people based on their *income*. Oh, what, you're only sincere until you make money? PHOOEY. And *who's* a hippy?
OT: that NYPress article on Chuck is the most over-the-top, ugly, hate-filled rant masquerading as "critique" I've ever read, and if I was the editor of any publication -- hell, even a photocopied punk rock zine with a picture of a skull in the masthead -- I would never, ever run something so farging blisteringly ugly under the guise of "critique." C'mon, making fun of how he LOOKS? Jesus, why not attack the font he uses on the cover, or the type of paper he prints on, for all that matters. Christ on a crutch!
More OTT: I love Chuck K, lots. Its fair to say he's my favorite writer writing about rock today. He is absolutely right that Billy Joel is "great," and anybody who would question the notion that Steely Dan "more lyrically subversive than the Sex Pistols and the Clash combined" hasn't listened to Steely Dan's lyrics recently.
jibbers is spot on!
everyone listed on the mpls/stp mag "hipster" list just got very uncool for being labled a "hipster". it's a cruel world, i know.
Taylor, you're in my top 5 (possibly higher once we start that band). I also think Adam's good for a laugh, and he should comment more. And whatever happened to Rachael, anyway? She used to be all over MNSpeak.
Also, Rex, one of my funniest encounters with you was when you derisively called me "A blogger."
Rex: I'm sure some of MSP Mag's readership is interested in knowing what them wacky kids are up to these days. But I think the vast majority of them (brace yourself for a massive stereotype) are more interested in where they can have a great expense account meal, or what Lorie Line's drapes look like so they can copy them. People just like reading about things that directly affect them, it's human nature. That's why a MNStories article is such a nice breath of fresh air in MSP Mag. Of course, when I read the article before my appointment to get my contacts fitted I could be surprised at the breadth of hipster interviewed.
Ross: I'd take blogger over hipster, and pretty much anything over the much-dreaded epithet: scenester.
Ross: That was SXSW, right? Ground zero of hip!
Fucking bloggers.
Rex, really? If I could stay awake past 9:30, I'd go out all the time in an attempt to be a scenester.
Rex: If it wasn't SXSW, it was soon after. (Speaking of, I just got final approval from work to go to SXSW this year. Wheeee!)
Jonny: That anti-Chuck piece was actually the cover story that week. I remember at the time he said that was one of the weirdest things about the whoe experience -- that his face was on every corner of Manhattan.
Rich: Somehow I had forgotten all about "scenester." Next time I'm mad at my mom, I'm going to call her one.
Try to differentiate these: hipster, scenester, middle-brow, creative class, bobo.
I have less of a problem with the selection that with the fact that an unhip magazine has decided to designate who is hip.
Similarly, if I want a list of tasteful sex scenes in movies, I don't turn to a scat magazine for advice. Their suggestions will probably involve poop in some way.
Ross: She'll be crushed. Unless she reads MSP Mag. Then she'll just be confused.
If you consider *the* place to shop the same place your mom, heck even your grandma, would be likely to find that she liked, then you are not a hipster. We won't even go into Starbucks. Ok, I lied. I find it hard to believe you can't find independent coffee places all over the TC that can make a decent coffee drink.
Sort of OT, but I used to work for an professional association that was contacted by MplsStPaul Magazine to help them with research for one of their "best of" issues. Their methodology is seriously flawed. Heads up to all that I would not use the services of anyone based on their "best of" rating.
My mom's hangout is the Cloquet VFW. Is that hip? (She also once saw a Hank III concert in a casino parking lot.)
I'm going to put the photo of Rex in a locket that I'll wear around my neck 24/7
Why not put it on a clock and pull a Flava-flav? He's hip.
The VFW on Lyndale is entertaining. However, the VFW in Cloquet seems like a quick way to get my arse kicked.
Here's an interesting break-down of "hipster," courtesy The Assimilated Negro:
http://theassimilatednegro.blogspot.com/2006/01/quest-for-negro-hipster-continues.html
I know actual paper magazines are infinitely less hip than the Internet, but I'd like to see a straw poll of how many people posting here have actually read the article at this point, and not just looked at the handful of interviews on the web...?
Handful.
I am not judging whether or not these people are worthy of being profiled. Perhaps I'd be more interested in the full article if they just focused on achievements, etc. rather than implicating that the few interviewees are so cool, and that they are going to let us in on what is so cool, like where to get coffee or where to after party.
scs can reserve judgement, but it's pretty obvious to me that these people aren't hip. They're hipSTERS, which by definition are something quite different than hip. All I saw was a bunch of fresh-faced yuppies with a lot of disposable income who like to shop at the Galleria and Whole Foods. I don't see any of these people so much as walking into a dive bar or catching a show at the Turf Club/Triple Rock/Big V's/Uptown on any regular basis.
While I can't speak for the others who were interviewed, I know that I never felt like I was letting others in on what's so cool around town. I simply wanted to give some shout out's to the people and places that I like and frequent. Some of them could use the exposure and other deserve the spotlight. Plus, I was also tired of seeing dentists, doctors and applebees highlighted.
I too, laughed a bit about the whole thing, but thought why not? My mom, who is constantly worried about my lack of a yuppie income, at least can be comforted by the thought that someone thinks I've done something well - which of course, is always open to interpretation.
But I did want to say that many of you were right about the fact that really hip people don't draw attention to themselves on purpose - they do so effortlessly.
1) I have it on good advice that all the real hipsters (whom, btw, you aren't acquainted with) are dishing the lot of us on their top-secret hipster blog as we speak.
2) HipsterOrNot.com is totally available.
3) This is my new favorite MNSpeak thread.
p.s. I was at the VFW on Friday night and it is one of the best dive bars in town. Karoake, pizzas, and a slew of interesting people.
a) local magazines suck
Not true. Mlps./St. Paul Mag, Min. Monthly, the Rake, City Pages (is that a magazine or newspaper?), Pulse, all 500 neighborhood papers around the city that come out randomly, Utne Reader, Rift, and even Profane Existence (that's so funny) have good articles consistently.
b) creative people who make $50K are yuppies
Young, Urban, Professional. What's the contest here?
c) hipsters suck
Hipsters, like punks, goths, ravers, bikers, art-school kids, rastas, hillbillies, club kids, heavy metal fans, greasers, and anarchists make Minneapolis way more interesting. They might suck or not, but I wouldn't trade them for all the upscale furniture boutiques and pure bred dog spas in the world.
Wow I didn't know that hipsters give "shout outs"?
I also burp, fart and crank call people on a very regular basis.
"Take the mag out to Redwood Falls or Warroad and see what they get called."
hhhhhmmmm, that's easy!
I'll confirm the burbing and farting part of Gretchen's comment, but I have yet to get a crank call from her.
Gretchen, why don't you ever return my calls?
As long as we're sharing memories here, my favorite one of Ross: we were standing around at a hipster party and he leaned over to me and asked, "what do you think of these people?" I still laugh about it.
I've heard her crank call Rex.
Er, I meant Randall. Randall!
randall is a serious bad-ass man. i love him!
What makes a hipster party? We're having enough trouble defining hipsters, now we have to figure out what denotes their parties? Are there berets involved?
Okay, first of all I'm pretty psyched that my first post in the blogosphere ever has 120 comments and counting. Do I know how to rile up mnspeak or what?
Secondly, of course this MSP exercise is doomed from the beginning (especially offensiveto me that they included the marketing director of the MOA as well as two head honchos of Bellanotte in their 100 hipsters) but at least they admit that and do their best despite it. I really do love the XY axis on page 77. Use it in your own life to chart your favorite alcoholic beverages, eating establishments, or cool people you work with. Serious fun.
And thirdly, I will admit that MSP is my favorite local mag. I get a free subscription at work and I love to cuddle up with it and see who wore what to which fundraiser, judge newscasters and professional athletes by their home decorating skills, and feel secure that I'm above all that silly superficiality. (And their feature writing and arts coverage is some of the best by far.) It's like the local US Weekly and this is the annual "100 Most Beautiful/Best Dressed/Sexiest/Hip People" issue. I love it.
my favorite feel good parties usually included music that you can occassionaly dance to, people doing things they normally don't do (like a negro hipster whipping his jock out in front of everyone), drinks flowing from fast bartenders, both new and familiar faces draped around the room, good lighting, smoking allowed somewhere and of course the occassional joint passed around.
The Hipster Edition of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and a bottle of POM at Kowalskis? $10.
120 mini-rants on Chuck Klosterman, white belts, and the ironic entertainment value of a Friday night at the VFW? That shit is prissless, yo.
Hey, RossnRex, thanks for the (backhanded?) compliments. But to all of you hipsters, scenesters and regular twats out there who have yet to buy a copy of Mpls.St.Paul ($3.99, on newsstands now!), well, I don't think I'm qualified enough to write about anything. I think we were just shooting for a fun way for people who enjoy light reading to kill some time on the toilet. In fact, here's a game that could be more fun than a crossword puzzle: my editors wouldn't let me use the word "douchebag" in my intro--can you find out which word I had to exchange it with? So...yeah, where was I? Oh yeah. Qualifications. I'm not an expert. I don't have to be, right? This isn't Anderson Cooper, is it? And I'm going to be compromised by anybody that would be kind enough to pay me to write for them. In some way. Probably some publications more than others. (The only way to hold on to your integrity these days is to get a blog and a job at Sexworld, but I don't think I have enough talent for either.) The sad truth is I'm just a boy from White Bear Lake that bought a copy of The Hipster Handbook at Urban Outfitters a few years ago. (Cue the Chapin.) And then I think I went across the street to Borders and bought Sea Change and Fargo Rock City; a boy just like you, dad. A boy just like you.
Now go buy a copy. C'mon. It's only $4. I know you're used to the free weeklies and the blogs, but it's time for y'all to grow up. And you never know, you might find the number for a cosmetic dentist that could just help you out. Can you imagine what laser whitening could do for you at a murky VFW?
Negro, Gretchen?
Hipsters, like punks, goths, ravers, bikers, art-school kids, rastas, hillbillies, club kids, heavy metal fans, greasers, and anarchists make Minneapolis way more interesting.
I agree with this - but the thing that gets me is that all of them, within their own archetype, are pretty much exactly the same. I see some 22 year-old punked out in Uptown and he looks just the same as the guy who was doing it 20 years ago - so what's new and interesting about that?
sorry, i was merely referencing an earlier post highlighting a site in search of a "negro hipster". no badness intended. I swear. I have 5 black brothers and sisters who would slap me silly if they saw that:(
I just had an image of thousands of lawyers in Eden Prairie McMansions sitting on Kohler toilets reading about those wacky hipsters.
If only there were eyewash stations for your brain.
Rich, dude, what's your problem? Can't you just go sit in your garage on your Triumph, pop in some Craig Finn, and dream up some more blogs ripping on Norah Jones and/or George Bush? We get it. You're cooler than me. Now go blow that red strip out your ass.
Red STRIPE. Red stripe. Red strip sounds nasty.
No Triumph, but I am a big Craig Finn fan. So not cool though, and not trying to rip on anyone. Just thought your comment about toilet reading was funny.
Sorry. I just wanted to pick a fight for fun. Damnit. Now it's five and I actually have to write something. Thanks for nothing, richg.
Sorry man, I try not to pick fights with writers. I work in PR, so I make a point not to piss off my meal tickets. If you can give me a written affadivit that you'll take the next story I pitch you, we can have all the flame wars you want.
anyone willing to sell their CYHSY tickets?
Affadavit. Yeah, one of those. Damn.
I see some 22 year-old punked out in Uptown and he looks just the same as the guy who was doing it 20 years ago - so what's new and interesting about that?
I think it's interesting because some people keep doing it. I don't think anything is new about that. But it seems like every decade, you get to add another subculture and the ensuing residue. In the 50s it was greasers (who are still around), then hippies and non-mainstream political activists, then club kids, punks, then more punks, then goths, then metal dudes, emo/indie rockes, etc. etc. The best part is there's still rockabilly guys who are only 20, living like some of their grandparents did. It's like subcultural family values.
Matt: Do real hipsters comment on blogs at all?
Paul: I can fill the loop on Gretchen's troika. I've been pranked by her. I sorta fell for it too, because she pretended to be a white trash girl that I supposedly hit on at the Hexagon. C'mon, that's totally possible!
Steve: I view what you do as subversive. It's difficult getting smaller, fringier voices into big publications.
Blythe: Awesome post. However, I just grabbed a salad from Uptown Kowalski's and the dentist issue is still on the rack. I fucking hate the dentist issue!
Everyone: If I were a hipster, I'd say we just jumped the shark.
No you wouldn't. "Jump the shark" is, like, so two years ago.
Yeah, I think it's "jump the couch" now. Or something.
are you people fucking kidding me?
What is hip? OK, i'll be the one.......
So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag.
Ease on in a hip thang,
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip.
So you started to let your hair grow.
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe.
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip.
(refrain #1)
What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know.
What is hip?
If you're really hip,
the question, "Will it show?"
You're into a hip trip.
Maybe hipper than hip.
What is hip?
{ Trumpet solo/guitar solo }
(refrain #1 ends)
You became a part of a new breed.
Been smokin' only the best weed.
Hangin' out with the so called "Hippie set."
Seen in all the right places.
Seen with just the right faces.
You should be satisfied, but it ain't quite right.
{ refrain #1 }
Come on!
(refrain #2)
Hipness is. What it is!
Hipness is. What it is!
Hipness is. What it is!
Sometimes hipness is, what it ain't.
(end refrain #2)
{ guitar solo }
You went an' found you a guru.
In an effort to find you a new you,
And maybe even raise your conscious level.
While you're striving to find the right road,
There's one thing you should know,
"What's hip today, might become passe'."
{ refrain #1 }
{ Trumpet solo }
Think about it y'all.
{ keyboard solo }
{ refrain #2 }
What is hip?
Ahhhhhhhhh!
What is hip?
I'd like to know!
What is hip?
Is it in the style of your hair?
What is hip?
Is it in the clothes that you wear?
What is hip?
I'd like to know.
What is hip?
I'd like to know.
What is hip?
What is hip y'all? Hey!
What is hip?
Hey! Oh!
What is hip?
What is hip y'all?
What is hip?
I wanna know.
What is hip?
Ahhhhhhh!
What is hip?
I wanna know what hipness is.
-
hostility crawls
neatly, chortling ingenious
borderline hipster
-
My definition of hipster is a counterculture hypocrite whose key theoretical apparatus is limited to an early adolescent understanding and idolatry of irony. It's only a working definition mind you, but it pretty accurately summed up the worldview of the stuffed hipsters that now line the trophy case display in my bathroom, ymmv.
Forget best dentists issue, you know how hard it is to find a good taxidermist these days?
Blogging hasn't been hip in over a year or more. Not even tragically.
stevemarsh:subversive :: diablocody:sublime
I wanna be sublime! Fuck subversive. Goddamn you hipsters.
I'm going to buy that Tower of Power song on iTunes immediately. Nice reminder. That's the fucking jam, Rolfey!
Steve: I think to achieve "sublime" you'd need to look better in a bustier. Not to mention have fertile saliva.
John Leland's Hip: The History to thread--maybe not my review.
Funny, though, I'd been all over the country and never heard the word "hipster" until I moved here in 1990.
Steve... I wish I could write half of the things you say on this site. I find myself typing.. then backspacing as I think of the humorless CBS attorneys who decided they need to police my blog lest I get sued for slandering someone in my neighborhood.
Derusha is my favorite MNSpeaker. Don't go changin', Jason, don't go changin'. Wait, did I just type that? No backspacing here.
Replace every instance of "hipster" with "yuppie" and they might have gotten a smidge closer to accuracy.
I don't want clever conversation! I never want to work that hard! Mmhmmhm. I just want someone that I can talk to. I want you just the way you are! Priesmeyer. Yeah!
Sorry. This post has turned into kind of a rave up though in the last dying entries.
Wow. This is the best thread I've ever seen on this site. Awesomely fun to read....
I thought being on MySpace was hip enough. Now I have to get in a magazine too!?!?
Actually, I know many of the people listed and they're anything but pretentious and all worthy of recognition for what they do here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. As has been mentioned, it's the word hipster that's the trouble.
my editors wouldn't let me use the word "douchebag" in my intro--can you find out which word I had to exchange it with?
I'm-a go with tool.
[unhip forumspeak device] [unhip popcult reference]
And that's my final answer.
[/unhip popcult reference] [/unhip forumspeak device]
For anyone who wants to prove their hipness with witty answers, here are were the questions on the survey:
Where do you live?
With whom?
What's your coffeehouse/coffeeshop?
What's your Sunday breakfast spot?
What do you drive?
What sites do you surf for news?
What's the first thing you read in the Strib?
What's on your morning drive dial?
When not in town, where are you?
Who's your local band/musician?
Where do you have season tickets?
What's your apparel store(s)?
Where's your favorite "go to" place that always seems to have just the right thing?
Where do you get take-out?
What's your bakery?
Where do you mall?
Where are you on a Friday night?
Where's your gallery(s)?
Who cuts your hair? Where?
What are you really uptight about?
What's your substance of choice?
What subjects are you a total geek over?
Where do you refuel? (recharge? feed your soul?)
What's your date night?
What's the most you've paid for a concert ticket?
When you're at your naughtiest, you&
What's your beauty/grooming thing?
What's your workout? Where?
Who (or what's) the service provider you can't live without?
What's your favorite night?
What's the next performance you'll attend?
What's an arts organization you support?
What's your nightcap?
Where's the afterparty?
What's your favorite restaurant for:
* food?
* quality?
* late night?
* scene?
* impress your date?
* impress your client?
Who's your favorite Twin Citian?
Hear me now -- X will be Y in 6 months...
Dead threads are very hip. It's like an after-party.
The thing I love most about Minnesota is that I can go to just about any "hipster" party and find people who are up for talking, who are interested in enjoying a conversation for its own sake rather than immediately asking what you "do" or who you know, or getting into a smarts contest or a status trip. I rarely feel like I'm back in high school, the way I sometimes do in other states. Who cares? We're in Minnesota. Want a beer?
The coolest people here are usually interested in other people. You find that quality in personalities as diverse as Gretchen, Mike Whelan at Arise!, Robyn Robinson, Slug, Starfire, Zak Sally, whomever.
I'm just going over to the cheese tray to finish whatever hasn't been eaten yet. It's a little sweaty and rubbery, but I'm too drunk to mind.
i'm sure a lot of the people in the article are cool and normal, but when you define a person only by the stores they shop, the places they eat and their sources for news/entertainment, you're going to get a shallow pool of uninteresting- and pretentious-seeming folks.
What are you really uptight about?
What's your substance of choice?
The two things that define me.
Mr. Heilman wins a beer! On me, dude. Anytime.
What's the first thing you read in the Strib? Someone had better answer Super Quiz, though I'll settle for Sudoku.
The question is weather or not this will continue within MSP's editorial calendar. Once they realize that hipsters won't buy the vanity advertising that doctors and lawyers do, they may let it go the way of "Super Dog Walkers" and "Pickles We'd Love to Eat".
I can see Gretchen's Plaque now: Voted Ultra-Hipster 5 Years in a Row.
Sudoku is taking over my life. Everywhere I look, someone has a half-folded newspaper, working on Sudoku.
Mitch over at Shot in the Dark took the quiz. Funny as hell. I'd link to it if I could figure out how.
Hello? Is the afterpary over? Is it hip to be the last one standing? Guys? Hello?
Go home and get some sleep, Dave. And could you bag up those empties on your way out?
Listen up, Steve Marsh! I went to Target last night expressly to pick up the hipster issue and they had a huge display -- of the dentist issue!
I blame you. And Gretchen. And Rex. And the Rake.
i'm late on commenting - per usual since i'm too busy working rather than being cool... that said, i can't comment on the whole article since i haven't picked it up, but those that i know personally who were featured are definitely worth the space they were given. though, i cringed at the title of the article. i even thought to myself "this is going to be the most talked about thing on mnspeak." fuck! i was right. it was also a painful reminder of my lack of social life, and that i haven't seen marsh at a party (or kowalski's for that matter) for at least a year and a half. thanks for reminding me of what a hermit i've become mpls/st.paul magazine.
Man, this was a better read than the Sunday paper anyday.
I am convinced that this Onion item is based upon this very post.
Still smarting about this thread, Rex?
But you're right.
Maybe, but we officially now have grups. Oh Lord, please help me.
Wow, that's... weird.
And Otto (Phil & Isabelle Harders's exceptionally prodigous nine-year-old) is already getting press. He's the Frances Bean of MSP!
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