Support arts education in Minneapolis

For all you Twin Citians, please consider coming to this weekend's Grand Opening of ArtiCulture's new location on Franklin Avenue. Drop in on Saturday, September 27, between 3:00 and 7:00 PM to see the space and support the work of this fabulous non-profit. You can make a whole outing of it and dine in at True Thai, which is in the same building, or head a few blocks towards the river to Raja's Mahal for Indian cuisine.

The event is free and will have activities for kids and adults alike, including artist demos, face painting, a clothesline sale of "affordable art" (under $35), and a Wall of Wine raffle!

On the later point, if you're interested in the Wall of Wine raffle (30 bottles of wine), you can get your $10 ticket ahead of time by contacting me through the comments if you are unable to make it Saturday.

Our daughter has taken several classes at ArtiCulture and has even celebrated her fourth birthday there. It's a great organization that exposes community members to all kinds of visual arts on a shoestring budget. Please consider supporting them today!

You can also check out their course offerings here [pdf]. Fall session starts in about a week!

Good news: Amazon saved

Amazon bookstore (no not Amazon.com) has been saved at the last minute as it prepared to shut its doors permanently. Earlier this spring we learned that the long-standing Minneapolis feminist bookstore was up for sale. The Minneapolis institution has struggled over the past several years. The employee-owners were ready to move on and had begun a search to find a new owner. Several prospective buyers expressed interest, but nothing came through.

I was in the store about two weeks ago. They had a going out of business sale for their entire stock. I asked the manager, Barb, how long they were going to keep their doors open and she told me they'd finish up by the end of the month. She told me she hoped that maybe whoever took over the lease might open a bookstore because it would be great for the neighborhood.

Amy Goetzman at Minn Post tells the story of how a buyer came through at the last minute. The new owner has lots of plans, including the possibility of changing it's name. Those worried that it will lose it's feminist edge may take some comfort that the new owner, Ruta Skujins, owns "two lesbian publishing houses."

So, sometimes good things happen. One suggestion I would have for a new name would be The Phoenix, because it has arisen from its own ashes.

Great new Indian restuarant in Minneapolis

Residents and visitors of the Twin Cities now have a new excellent Indian restaurant to choose. Although the Twin Cities hosts a number of excellent Indian food sources, there is always room for one more!

I'm particularly excited about the most recent one, because I can walk there. When I lived in Washington, DC, we lived just one block from an excellent Indian restaurant, the White Tiger. That was a dangerous proximity!

We walked through the rain several blocks last week to the newly opened Gandhi Mahal at 3009 27th Avenue South--right next door to Midori's Floating World Cafe. Gandi Mahal is the site of the former Greek restaurant, Calypso, and other previously unsuccessful ventures.

As the Rake Magazine notes, it's unclear if the Mahatma would approve of the seafood and beef[!] entrees. The likeness of Gandhi looks over each table, making you uncomfortable to order a non-vegetarian dish. We compromised and got a chicken entree and a vegetarian thali (essentially a "sampler") to share. Both were excellent. I highly recommend the Chicken Tikki Masala. At first I thought the prices were high for Minneapolis standards. Each entree is $10-$16. But the portions are generous and the food is near perfect. Unless you are fairly hungry, two adults could split a single entree. (But then you wouldn't have leftovers for home--and what is better than 2nd day Indian for lunch the next day?)

Because they are new, no liquor license yet. But I believe you can bring your own wine and serve yourself in the meantime. The restaurant can provide wine glasses. AND, there is a liquor store directly across the street! So you can order your food, and then figure out what kind of wine works best as you take a quick stroll across the street. (I like a dry German Reisling with spicy Indian food myself.)

Two funny things about the restaurant. First, mahal means palace, which isn't the first thing I associate with Gandhi. Second, they don't have a website. Seriously, if you have a new business that serves customers, you need a website. It doesn't have to be fancy. It should have a picture, your menu, links to any good reviews, a phone number, address, and hours. Nothing flashy. Just spend the $50 to host and put it up!

Thankfully, they do have an email address. Here are the details:

Gandhi Mahal
Indian cuisine, lassi bar, and thali-tapas
3009 27th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-729-5222
612-729-5953
gandhimahal@gmail.com

Studio apartment in south Minneapolis

Need a place to live? This upstairs apartment is accessible by ladder and close to a major bus line. It may not have a lot of room, but it is Dish Network TV ready!

School buses and bars

I live in south Minneapolis. There are neighborhood bars every few blocks. I heard once that my ward has the most bars per capita outside of downtown.

Still, I always pause when I see school buses parked during the day close to a bar when there isn't a school for several blocks. I know they have to park somewhere, but it makes me wonder.

These are two of three buses I saw parked next to the Schooner Tavern around the corner from Rainbow Foods last Friday at 1:47 PM.

New blog on Minneapolis-St. Paul

I've started a new, separate blog about the Twin Cities. Ooops, sorry about that. It's not the Twin Cities, it's Minneapolis-St. Paul. The blog is called Minneapolis versus St. Paul.

The cities formerly called twins have had a longstanding rivalry. The rivalry is often friendly and sometimes ridiculous. Like the time where the two cities adopted different daylight saving calendars and general confusion over what time it actually was ensued for a couple of weeks.

Minnesotans know that the two cities have their differences. Minneapolis and St. Paul have their own separate character and history. What this means is you'll have some strong opinions about the alleged superiority of one over the other.

An effort is now underway to scientifically evaluate and measure the ways one city is better than the other. Over time, we will be able to determine once and for all which city is the best.



Suggestions for comparisons are welcome.

Reopening Nicollet

I was talking to a friend a week ago who is active and informed on south Minneapolis urban development stuff about the fact that the long talked about reroute of Nicollet Avenue was never going to happen. Simultaneously, the Southwest Journal reports that the City developing plan to reopen Nicollet. Were we being too presumptive?

This song and dance of putting Nicollet back together has been done before. About 30 years ago, the city agreed to a development plan to close off the busy Nicollet Avenue at Lake Street, and put in a K-Mart. The development effectively isolates the Whittier neighborhood and provides a transportation challenge for motorists and bikers in the area.

Nicollet Avenue cuts through all of of south Minneapolis, beyond I-35W/Hwy 62, through Richfield, and on to Bloomington and past I-494. On the north end, it enters downtown Minneapolis after it crosses I-94 and becomes Nicollet Mall. The section directly south of downtown is known as Eat Street with it diverse culinary options.

Click on picture for larger image.
Nicollet Avenue is highlighted in yellow and K-Mart is blue.
Yellow arrows show where north and south bound traffic must go to continue on Nicollet.
Arrows do not necessarily denote one-way. Lake Street is a two-way street.

Council Member Robert Lilligren's top priority continues to be to "reopen" Nicollet Avenue. Despite the fact that K-Mart is hesitant to close one of their profitable locations and that the city would probably have to pay more than a few pennies for this valuable real estate, plans appear to be going forward. Yet again.

It makes sense why Lilligren and others are investing so much in this despite past failures to make any headway. The re-link of Nicollet to Nicollet makes a lot of sense from a transportation perspective. But the project could also prove a great opportunity to redevelop a key, two-block section of Lake Street and transform the surrounding neighborhood, much in the way that the Sears Building project has done just down Lake Street.

Spring trumpting forth

The snow is still on the ground in the yards of my north Longfellow neighborhood here in Minneapolis. But signs of spring are already presenting themselves. This morning I heard the songs of robins.

And the other day, I knew spring was upon us as I heard the crazy trumpet guy!

He lives by the Schooner bar around the corner. Often, usually but not necessarily in the early evenings, he blows random notes on his trumpet around the neighborhood. He does it outside the bar. He does it in the alley. He does it at the bus stop. He does it out of his beat-up car. He even climbs in the tree with a giant stuffed Shrek. This time, he actually played part of a song. He must have been practicing over the winter.

I probably haven't heard his notes since September or October. The crazy trumpet guy is heralding spring, just like the rooster announces dawn. Sigh. There' s nothing like springtime in the city...

Sly in Mpls, George in St. Paul

File this under why Minneapolis has better stuff than St. Paul. On the same day it's announced that Sly Stone is allegedly to appear at First Avenue, we hear George Michael is coming to St. Paul's Excel Center. Minneapolis has good restaurants and a nightlife, St. Paul has this. However, St. Paul is hosting the Republican National Convention this year. On the other hand, Minneapolis is not.

In all fairness to my friends over in St. Paul, I'm really not a Minneapolis snob. I do find reason to go there on occasion and rarely get lost on the confusing streets anymore.

And despite George Michael's pathetic personal problems, I'm not a George Michael hater. I can admit that I rather like "Faith." I'm not shelling out $52 to $177 for a ticket to see him though. I have YouTube...

Sly in Minneapolis

Sly and the Family Stone will perform at First Avenue in Minneapolis on May 2. My guess is that the show will sell out. Though concert goers will have to be open to the possibility of disappointment, as Sly Stone has a history of doing extremely late or incomplete gigs.

In honor of the father of funk coming to Minneapolis, here's one of his hits. (I couldn't find a decent version of "Everyday People.")

More on Figlio advertisement

I first wrote about the Figlio restaurant billboard a few weeks ago. I thought it was mildly offensive, but mostly I'm perplexed why this is a clever advertising scheme.

The Deets also did a bit on the issue and linked to my post. One of the ensuing discussions was whether the picture is supposed to be a "regular" aging hooker or a transvestite aging hooker. The question hadn't occurred to me when I first saw it. I guess looking at it now, I would hazard to guess it is a trannie, but I don't see how that really matters.

The billboard is reportedly in several places around Minneapolis. The below picture is on 7th Street, near the intersection with 5th Avenue, in downtown Minneapolis.

Thoughts?

Amazon Bookstore for sale

According to the Minnesota Women's Press, the Amazon Bookstore cooperative is being put up for sale. The bookstore is the oldest feminist bookstore in North America and has been a worker-owned cooperative for all of its history.

Amazon has struggled in recent years. Kicked out of their Loring Park location, they bought into a space on Chicago Ave in South Minneapolis. They had some financial troubles there with a unanticipated property tax burden and an unsuccessful coffee shop and moved further down the street to their current location at 48th and Chicago. In 1999, they got in a lawsuit with Amazon.com, winning an undisclosed, but apparently not sizable, settlement.

Amazon's current location is on a great corner, near restaurants, a movie theater, and a family-friendly coffee shop. If a neighborhood-based bookstore is going to be successful, I would think this would be an ideal spot.


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The Women's Press quotes longtime employee-owner Barb Wiesner on the financial health of the store:

Although the store hasn't made a profit in a couple of years, said Wieser, "It's in relatively good shape, which is a testament to the generosity of the community, that we've been able to carry on. We have a good location, a good website, a long-term lease," she said, ticking off the positives. "I think the right owners, with some energy and resources, could revitalize the store. There is a lot of good stuff here."

The store is friendly and inviting and has a decent children's section. They sell a limited number of used books and videos in the basement. The basement can be used for book group and other meetings for free. While it is a feminist bookstore with the offers one might guess would go along with that, it is also a general interest bookstore with a broad array of offerings. You can also order just about any book through the store, via their website or in person.

Here's to hoping for some new owners that can keep this neighborhood gem healthy and vibrant. Clearly, some changes may have to be made to make it more profitable. The first thing I would do if I were them would host many more author and other types of events. They do have occasional events, but they have to give people a reason to come to the store with some regularity. This month, singer Ellis will be performing to benefit the store.

I suspect that people who haven't been in the store think that it is probably only feminist books. While I doubt they have Ann Coulter's latest diatribe on display, they have most of the typical selections you'll find in any other bookstore. I suspect the store needs to get the word out more that they are BOTH a wonderful feminist resource AND a valuable, friendly, welcoming neighborhood bookstore.

Working the corner

So, recently Target got a little bit of attention with billboards with suspicious placement of its trademark target image.

Right now in Minneapolis I had the pleasure of seeing a billboard for pseudo-Italian restaurant, Figlio. Figlio is located in Uptown at Lake Street and Hennepin in the Calhoun Square "mall." It's one of those places that I thought was a cool destination when I was in college and wanted to have a night out in the city. Mix Figlio with a movie at Lagoon, and you're set. Now, older and wiser, I don't go there. It's not that they are bad. It's just that there are many better options.

Anywho. Figlio has a billboard in downtown Minneapolis, and presumably elsewhere in the Twin Citites, with the tagline that they've been "working the corner" for a couple decades. It features the picture of what one concludes is an elderly prostitute. My better half theorizes they are using Chino Latino's ad consultants. I later discover that this is probably true, as Figlio and Chino Latino are owned by the same company, which incidentally, also includes Manny's Steakhouse, Good Earth, and Muffuletta.

The billboard tells us that Figlio is a hip place, I guess, for only hip people. If you don't like the billboard, then you aren't part of their exclusive clientèle. I don't see how aging hookers are supposed to get you in the mood for mediocre pasta in a noisy restaurant, but I guess I'm missing the point.

Meat

Driving down Lake Street in Minneapolis, I saw a not too uncommon sight: a double-parked delivery truck for one of the street's stores. In this case, it was one of the Halal meat groceries and the items were frozen butchered carcasses. I noticed because the delivery man was running with one on his back across the street. (It was cold and windy.) My best guess is that it was a goat. The carcass was wrapped in a clear plastic bag. The only thing was that the bag wasn't quite big enough and the bottom section of the legs were sticking out of the bag.

Glancing over to the truck with it's back half open, I saw a bunch more frozen goat carcasses. Each one with the legs sticking out into the elements. It looked like they were probably touching the floor bed of the truck. It made me think about getting some roast goat at the nearby Midtown Global Market.

Quote of the Day: Misdirected

Courtesy of the Star Tribune, Ken Plant of the army's Public Affairs office said the following in relation to some recent vandalism of a Minneapolis Army Recruiting office:

"It's misdirected frustration by people who are not too happy with the way things are going. The Army just goes where America tells it to go. If citizens want change, they need to talk about it."

I'd take issue with one aspect of this quote.

I agree with the premise that if people want change in "the way things are going" as one euphemism, the political process is where efforts are effectively spent. Clearly, throwing bricks through a window at an Army recruiting office doesn't really do much except cost the Pentagon a few hundred dollars to repair. These are folks who are misplacing--or at least, not accounting for--tens of millions of dollars. This won't hurt them.

Where I take issue is whether the statement of the brick throwers is necessarily all about the war. I don't know their mindset any more clearly than the Army spokesperson, but there is plenty of things to say about the Pentagon's recruitment strategies. Whether it's their practice of waivers to let just about anyone in (a full 11% of new recruits have convictions according to today's news reports); or the continued discrimination of gay people as they let people with gang tattoos in; or how they have virtually unfettered access to high school students' and their personal information; or how schools are forced to host them lest they loose their funding; or how many recruiting offices are staffed with professional sales people who have not seen combat and set rosy expectations of what their military career will entail; or, admittedly maybe closer to the point Mr. Plant made, because the offices are staffed by people making money off signing up people to commit themselves to fight in an unjust war and risk coming back themselves in a pine box; there may be more to it than simply being against the war.

I don't know. Maybe this person or persons are pissed off about the war, saw the Army recruiting office, and decided to express their opposition with some bricks. All I'm saying is that setting "the way things are going [in Iraq]" aside, there are plenty of other reasons to be dissatisfied with Army recruiting practices. I don't know how to change them, but my guess is that it isn't with bricks.

An afterthought: Can we waste the Pentagon's manpower and resources with a campaign to provide thousands of recruiting false leads? Call them up and be interested, string them along for a bit, then tell them to go to hell? I'm not going to do that because I don't want to talk to an Army recruiter about serving, but that would be at least more effective (and less legally risky) than throwing bricks.