(a brief interlude in the present)

[jfb]

Today I ate at a "raw food" vegan restaurant, saw at least four people riding recumbent bicycles, visited a community co-op grocery store, and was nearly run down by a swarm of women on motorcycles. Minneapolis is more Bay Area than the Bay Area.

Comments

so is seattle

[(Anonymous)]

partly it's about politics... the bay area is too rich to be left. how depressing. Say hi to your family for me.

Lynn

[rutemple.livejournal.com]

yes, yes!
Having grown up in the Twin Cities and moving from the 'burbs to Minneapolis as I came of age, I can absolutely and definately agree with you. Except the part about the swarm of women on motorcycles nearly running you down - that doesn't make sense with my sense of Minnesota Nice.
Lived for a year half a block from the Seward, before it was rebuilt and grew to its current size. For years the sign read "Seward Cooop" with three o's because it was one of the earliest food/grocery market cooperatives, and the state, which knew about farming coops from the Depression years when folks banded together to survive, didn't know how to classify a grocery coop yet. There are many others around town, larger and smaller, and each delightful in its own way. I miss them, even though we do have the Rainbow here in SF at 14th and Division (whereas the Rainbow Groceries you'll find in Mpls/StPaul are a chain, being more a warehouse grocery late-in-life concept of the local Sidney Applebaum, whose other chain under his own name was more of a 50's era grocery/corner store kind of thing. More than you wanted to know I'm sure.

So where are you gigging in Mpls, is the real question? It's a hotbed for indy music, folk music, and a bazillion fabulous small theatres doing improv, new works, or repertory.

Enjoy, enjoy my home town while you're there, She's lovely.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the motorcycle incident had less to do with Minnesota Nice than Erik Clumsiness. Got out of my car at just the wrong moment on the Minnehaha Parkway.

And yes, I've seen a lot of co-ops and things like them around town. Not a real surprise--I never spent much time in the Cities, but I remember these things from visits--but a nice reminder.

No actual gigs on this trip, but I played an open mike at Dunn Bros (http://www.dunnbros.com/) Grand and it seemed to go well, so I'm going to inquire about booking a show around Christmas. I have a horde of family and friends in the area, some of whom have offered to help promote a show if I get one, so it seems promising. Tomorrow I'm going to try an open mike at Kieran's in downtown Minneapolis.