Noise > Signal

I constantly tell people that I love my city, and I want the places that I love in my city to prosper.  To that end, I tell people to go to the places that I like, so they don’t disappear.  So, that’s what will eventually (I hope) fill the “Oh, the places…” tab that you see above.  I’m going to try to stick to at least one rule: I will post from the place I’m posting about.  First, because If I want You to patronize a place, than certainly I should. And second, because I can better relate why I think you should go there when reminding myself why I do.

Place #1 is the Wilde Roast Cafe in Northeast Minneapolis, named for the writer and socialite who apparently spent most of his life speaking in aphorisms, with a scribe following him everywhere.

I love this place for several reasons.  Oscar Wilde was a great writer, and one of my favorite aphorists.  (WordPress doesn’t think that’s a word. It is. Look it up.) They get points right away for that, but they use his likeness and his legacy well.  Had it been around in the 19th century (useless fact: his death preceded my birth by exactly 80 years), he would have been much more welcome at the Wilde Roast than here, for example.

What makes a great coffee shop to me is mostly about the mood.  I don’t really care if the coffee is that good (it is), if I like the music they play (I do*), if the people that work there are friendly (they are).  I care more about the lighting, the decor, the chairs, et cetera.  It’s about how comfortable I feel hanging out there to read, do homework, or this.

They have good mood lighting throughout, but it’s still bright enough on one side to do homework.  They also have the big, comfortable chairs and couches that should be at any good cafe.

It’s not the cheapest place, but it’s not unreasonable and the food and baked goods are generally done well.  I’m not a food critic, so don’t expect too much detail in that regard.

Deals! I just discovered this.  If you ever go to the Heights Theater, two-for-one desserts!

For the drivers, they have off-street parking; for the rest of you, it’s on or near several bus routes (2, 4, 6, 10, 61, et al).

One of the few real drawbacks, at least for the night-owls like me, is that it’s only open until 10.  And if you look at the time stamp, I was unable to finish this entry before I had to leave, thus partially violating the only rule I have so far. I am currently at the Espresso Royale Caffe in Dinkytown, which may eventually grace these pages.

What else should I report on in these entries? Is this too much, too little?  Do you care?

¡Hasta la próxima vez!

*i.e., St. Germain, at the moment.

Admin Oh, the places you should go! Coffee Shops, Wine Bars

May not be as quotable as Voltaire*, but you’re not apt to find that here anyway.  This might be inappropriate to post, as it’s like three or four degrees removed by now, but this is the best thing that Norm Coleman’s lawyer has said so far: “I would do anything for Norm except vote for him.”

This is a perfect example why I love MinnPost.com so much.

*The, “I may disapprove of what you say” line is apparently incorrectly attributed to Voltaire, but it’s not like you know who Evelyn Beatrice Hall is anyway.

Admin Politics Uncategorized

My Friends:
-Who knows how many more times I’ll be able to tap her for accompaniment to weddings, but everyone needs to have a friend with whom you can properly deal with homilies that reference people’s confusion over the legality of human-canine unions.

-They tell me things I need to know, i.e., a rare but spot-on recommendation from one to listen to a band (Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles), even if I mostly ignored it until months later.

-They give me things I need to have, like lots and lots of music (including LM and the VLs), even if I don’t necessarily listen to that music until months later.

-Again with the things I need to know: informing me of a late night performance by Ms. Michelle and her Lapelles at the Dakota, which I did attend and thus deepened my love for Lucy. A pretty big crowd showed up at 11:30 to hear them play a fantastic show that included covers of the Bear Necessities and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right. Yup. Jungle Book and Bob Dylan.

My City:
-It may be very cold, but Minneapolis is the birthplace and/or home of some things that I like, namely the several times aforementioned Lucy, et al and the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant.

Jesus Books:
-No, not like this, like this and this.

Coffee Shops:
-More specifically having the leisure, albeit briefly, to spend 4 hours in one doing things like this.

Admin Miscellany , Music Uncategorized

About a week shy of the three month mark from my last posting, I’m going to try again. But classes start in two (2) days, so I fully intend to be foiled again. I’m not any good at this kind of thing, but I need an “outlet,” as they say. So, here goes:

Admin Miscellany  Uncategorized

I was pretty excited when the new 35W Bridge opened. As an urban planning student, there are a lot of interesting implications regarding the collapse and subsequent funding and construction of a major route through Minneapolis. As a Minneapolis resident, it was important for my commute. And I was excited to cross it for the first time.

I’m also a biker and have spent a fair amount of time looking at the bridge from the adjacent 10th Avenue Bridge. Sure, it would have been cool to bike across it, but common sense (and something about laws) has prevented me from doing so. So I was a bit surprised and amused to see two people turn onto the entrance ramp to southbound 35W at University Avenue last night. And what makes it better was that they appeared to be responsible (though silly looking) adults with helmets and lights, both riding one of these:

Admin Miscellany  35W, Bicycles, Minneapolis

Fear not, dear reader, my zealousnes will soon end. But, for now: Welcome to my first music post on my non-music blog. TV on the Radio’s Young Liar’s, from their EP of the same name, just came up on my iPod’s Genius playlist. (That shit is truly genius. Makes it sound like I have better music taste than I really do. Thanks, Steve Jobs!).

I thought this, than, would be a good opportunity to submit my brief review* of the TVOTR show that was in the mainroom last night. First of all, openers were The Dirtbombs. I wanted to like them. I really did. And I did, at first. Like, right when I walked in the door. Once I could see the stage however, they spent the rest of the night trying in vain (unbeknownst to them, of course), to dig themselves out of the hole into which I had I had thrust them. Why? Two dummers. And they were not good enough to need two.

TVOTR were very good. The set list was a satisfying mix of old and new. Their music has a great dance rock feel that causes me to move in that mildly absurd, white-boy-indie-hipster dance-like manner.

I got really excited when the frontman (Tunde?) grabbed a cymbal off the drum set and a drumstick. I was hoping they might do what OKGO did there a few years ago, and what the Arcade Fire did at Roy Wilkins last year, when the finished their set by playing a few songs in the middle of the crowd. But no, they just played a mostly a cappella version of…I forget what song.

*This is not actually a review. I mostly wanted to mention that I was there, so you realize how cool I am. If you want a real review, you should go to another blog or maybe these guys. They seem to think they know what they’re talking about.

Admin Music Arcade Fire, Dirtbombs, genius, Music, non-music, pitchfork, TV on the Radio, TVOTR

I’m new to blogging, so I hope this isn’t stealing. David Levinson at The Transportationist posted this article from The Atlantic and you should read it. Yes, you. Whichever one of you reads my blog. It shouldn’t be a funny article, but it is. Airport security’s a big deal now, right? Very sophisticated, expensive and thorough. Right.

“He [Bruce Schneier] had made these boarding passes in his sophisticated underground forgery works, which consists of a Sony Vaio laptop and an HP LaserJet printer.”

Admin Politics Uncategorized

[Admin note: This post was a reference to the original title of this blog, "This is not a music blog."]

This is not a music blog because, if there can be said to be qualifications required to be a music blogger, I do not posses them. But a music blog seemed like the most appropriate type of blog for me to write that would have any kind of focus. So, by way of clarification, this is not a music blog. I hope that’s clear.

Admin Politics clarity, excuses, Introduction, lack thereof