MNSpeak: Talk

Favorite Songs About Minnesota

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 06, 2009 - 12:02am

Mine would have to be Augie Garcia's lost classic "Be My Guest" about the River Road Club in Mendota, although I have also always been partial to The Replacement's "Skyway." What are your favorites?

7 comments

Local Blog Roundup 01.05.08

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 05, 2009 - 11:45pm

Afterglide locates a very odd Craigslist offer.
Breaking Down says Minnesota is not a state for drivers.
The Deets enjoys some fine local fried food.
Overheard examines the value of Timberwolves tickets.

0 comments

Carl Pohlad Dies at Age 93

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 05, 2009 - 4:12pm

According to Star Tribune columnist Pat Reusse, on Joe Soucheray's KSTP show (reported here), Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad is dead at age 93. If anyone hears any more about this, please comment. [Update: Star Tribune confirms.]

24 comments

Joe Dowling Makes a Lot of Money

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 05, 2009 - 3:06pm

The Strib does a story on salaries for the local arts community, and reveals that Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling pulled in $682,229 in salary and benefits last year: Even discounting a one-time bonus of $100,000, his compensation surpassed that of his peers not only in New York but also at nonprofit theaters elsewhere in the United States. So, Joe Dowling -- overpaid?

17 comments

Perhaps the Greatest Andrew Zimmern Site Ever

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 05, 2009 - 12:57pm

Here is what is currently flying through the blogosphere: Andrew Zimmern Ate My Balls. Via: Almost every blog in the Twin Cities.

34 comments

Food Invented in Minnesota

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 05, 2009 - 12:18am

Of course, we know that Minnesota is the home of the Jucy Lucy. Also the bundt cake, or, at least, the bundt pan. Pronto Pup claims to have invented the corn dog. We're reportedly the birthplace of the cosmopolitan. Cheerios comes Golden Valley, along with dozens of other General Mills products. Pearsons in St. Paul invented the Salted Nut Roll. And now Secret's of the City's own Jeremy Iggers reveals the extraordinary fact that Minnesota's own Leeann Chin invented the cream cheese won ton. Any other local creations that I am forgetting?

14 comments

Franken Wins (Sort Of)

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 05, 2009 - 12:01am

The winner of the Senate race will be abbounced tomorrow, and, with a 225 lead, the winner is expected to be Al Franken. Coleman says he'll fight, and, until the issue is settled, Franken can't be seated in Senate. Didn't Coleman make the case when he was ahead that were he behind, he would step down?

63 comments

Strib: 3 busted after 1 parachutes from Foshay Tower

by noodleman :: posted on Jan. 03, 2009 - 7:03pm

Finally. Something neither Wisconsin or Iowa (or Norsokota) can claim!

Three people were arrested after one of them allegedly parachute jumped 32 stories off the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis — and they returned to the scene to brag about it.

Gosh. I wonder why, though, they fought with police when arrested? Wonder what their logic was?

11 comments

Xcel Has Smelly Wood

by edkohler :: posted on Jan. 02, 2009 - 5:28pm

The Bridge reports that Seward Neighborhood residents are not fans of the stinky PCP (Pentachlorophenol) treated wooden power poles installed by Xcel Energy. PCP is a toxin and the manufacturing process creates additional toxic chemical byproducts. However, poles treated with the pesticide last 4X longer. Should people be putting themselves, their kids, and their neighbors ahead of poles?

3 comments

A Kardashian lands a T-Wolf?

by noodleman :: posted on Jan. 02, 2009 - 2:41pm

I'm so desperate for attention (lol) that anything with a Minnesota connection is attracting my interest ... even if it involves sports and C-list babes.

Khloe Kardashian Lands A Boyfriend (Perez Hilton via Jezebel.com)

2 comments

The RNC Informant Pleads His Case

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 02, 2009 - 10:27am

Brandon Darby, the informant who turned over two Texas men who were making molotov cocktails to be used at the RNC, explains his reasons, and why his turning informant wasn't a betrayal of his activism: "I feel like, as an activist, I played a direct role in stopping violence," he tells the PiPress. More from the Independent.

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Looking to the Internet to uncover the truth behind a family's story of murder

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 02, 2009 - 10:20am

David Hawley tells a fascinating tale of his grandfather, who, according to his father, had killed a man during a strike and spent 10 years in jail for it. Hawley took to the computer to find out the truth, and he discovered a story that still involved murder, but otherwise was quite different than what his father told him.

0 comments

2008 Police Blotter Roundup

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 02, 2009 - 12:38am

The PiPress rounds up their favorite stories from the police blotter. Because how can we look back on the last year without remember a story like this: It was reported Aug. 14 that someone spray-painted the rear window of a car in Eagan. Blue paint was used to write the words "penis mobile."

4 comments

Open Thread 01.02.08

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 02, 2009 - 12:19am

To kick off the open thread, here is an awesome music video in which a Mexican wrestler battles all manner of bad guys.

38 comments

The Latest in Fake Memoir News

by Max Sparber :: posted on Jan. 01, 2009 - 2:43am

Fake memoirs seem all the rage nowadays. There was Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival, the story of a teenage gangbanger in Los Angeles that turned out to be written by a middle class white suburban woman. Then there was Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, the story of a child Holocaust survivor who was tended to by wolves, which probably should have surprised nobody when it was exposed as a fabrication. And who can forget JT Leroy, who authored the tellingly titled The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, which told of his experiences as a transgendered teenage male prostitute, despite having been authored by a middle aged woman. Minnesota has already been involved in at least two forged memoirs: Most notoriously, James Frey's fictionalized tale of Hazelden horror, a Million Little Pieces; Somewhat less known is my own fake memoir (not sure why it has never caught on; after all, I was kidnapped by mole men.) Now a Minnesota publishing house finds itself at the center of a new fake memoir controversy. Lerner Publishing Group published a children's book about a true romance between a concentration camp inmate and the young woman who threw apples over the fence to him. The trouble? It wasn't true.

18 comments

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