Minneapolis
Leviticus
We just wrapped a short and sweet showcase shoot of Leviticus Tattoo Studio. Kurt and crew are a pleasure to work with and are renowned in the world of ink. Check them out if you’re seeking an artist to create a one-of-a-kind work for you:
City of Music: Charlie Parr
thinfilms helped MPLS.tv shoot a music video featuring Charlie Parr for City Pages’ Gimme Noise. Here’s the final edit:
Down to the River
Filming the Charlie Parr video last weekend
As I mentioned earlier, last weekend I went down to the river with a bunch of gear to help Dan Huiting shoot a music video featuring Charlie Parr for City of Music and the video is premiering this coming Monday on the site.
See more stills from the shoot and read the article in City Pages
10 second Charlie
It’s 20 seconds, actually, but it goes by fast as my new pal, Charlie Parr, plays his National while sitting along the mighty Mississippi River:
Charlie Parr
Charlie Parr in Minneapolis this morning
Amidst such a perfect backdrop for his sound, the morning flew by listening to him sing and play his National down there along the river while we did our three-camera shoot. He has a new album out soon, too, so keep an eye peeled for it.
I’ll be sure to post the final edit here but, meanwhile, please enjoy this clip taken in ’09 while Charlie played Cheap Wine at the Victoria Pub in Birmingham, UK:
Elite Gymnastics @ the Medusa
James Brooks and Josh Clancy are Elite Gymnastics
Elite Gymnastics is James Brooks and Josh Clancy. The duo have been receiving quite a bit of national attention for their brand of chillwave tunage. From the New York Post to Pitchfork, these two are getting positive reviews. Minneapolis’ own City Pages had this to say:
…a trance-inducing quality to them, akin to sitting in a darkened opium den listening to ’80s dance hits stream out of a telephone receiver, off in the distance, softly yet persistently.
Check them out for yourself below and if you likey you can listen to more via their MySpace page and/or download their Real Friends EP for free here:
10 Second Film Festival: Sticks
More than 3000 enjoyed the 10 Second Film Festival
Thanks to the Soap Factory and MPLS.tv!
Watch ‘Sticks’ in its entirety below (14-seconds):
Life is but a Taco…
MPLS.tv created the credits for the Soap Factory‘s 10 Second Film Festival and did it so well this opening credit won the award in the ARTHOUSE category, and features the Mayor of Minneapolis, Chris Cloud:
‘sticks’ at the 10 Second Film Festival
The crowd at the 10 Second Film Festival
“Lars can eat carrots really fast” was a crowd pleaser, too, and when i didn’t hear the call to claim the award for ‘sticks’ evidently they chose this as the next winner, which i didn’t go up for either because i STILL couldn’t hear anything! : P
Honey, it really works
When I first moved away from Alaska nearly 5 years ago, there was one thing I wasn’t anticipating having to deal with: allergies. For years I was allergy-free living in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. That all changed quickly upon making my new home in the Middle West.
I tried over-the-counter remedies, which left me feeling speedy and just “off” until one of my pals told me about the solution: locally made honey.
Honey has anti-microbial properties and has for centuries been used for medicinal purposes of all sorts, including as a dressing for serious wounds. It’s also high in antioxidants and tastes real good on cereals, in sauces, lemonade and all kinds of stuff. Still, the most interesting use I’ve ever heard of for honey is as a natural remedy for seasonal allergies. According to various natural health practitioners, pollen found in locally-grown raw honey works over time to desensitize the body to allergens much like traditional allergy shots work.
It’s working for me. The season so far has been allergy-free, even amidst rumblings from pals that it is unseasonably allergy-ish, and I would like to thank the East Side Co-op for selling multiple varieties of the stuff – it’s saved my sanity and made my summer completely enjoyable again. Thanks, bees and beekeepers out there : )
The Pines : Tremolo
The Pines‘ latest album, Tremolo, has earned some great reviews fresh out of the chute, including
Penguin Eggs, which reviewed it in this month’s issue:
Potent, poignant, minimalist country from Iowans David Huckfelt and Benson Ramsey (son of Greg Brown sideman Bo, who produced this record). The duo spin spare, haunting melodies and imagistic words over deceptively gentle intertwinings of acoustic and electric guitar, stand-up bass, keys and drums.
But song after song, with soft, wearied voices, they reveal a lyrical world view both thoughtful and tough, keenly attuned to harsh realities and the glimpses of consolation that peek through the solitude and loss inherent in life. “We surrender, just to survive/ But no matter how hard you try/ No, you can’t put the tears/ Back into your eyes,†Ramsey sings (with the help of his dad) on Shiny Shoes. What’s remarkable is how such an unsentimental outlook is married to music at once so fragile, so gravid and, ultimately, beautiful. If I were a betting man, I’d say watch for this album on a lot of critics’ top 10 lists for 2009.
MOBY in MPLS
Moby was in town @ The Current this past week and, in addition to hosting Theft of the Dial, left us with some great live recordings, including this moving Gospel rendition:
Skoal Kodiak
The sounds these guys make are made to be experienced live and man, look out because the grooves powered by Brady’s bass and Freddy’s drums carry the audience off to dance land.
The clip below does their thing little justice but after their set @ the 501 Club last night, I had to mention them here – it was unforgettably good:
Malecha
This is our pal, Pat.
After having lived in Little Port Walter (known by those in the know as Club Fed) for a few years, our pals Pat and Jen have moved back to Juneau with their little boy, Bruno.
Now, we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like but seeing as you’re visiting us @ Lofto this week, we’ve dedicated today’s post to you : )
We’ve missed you!
Some cool facts about Pat:
Subsequent to being a Rasmuson Fellow, Pat initially worked as a research analyst at the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission where he reported on aspects of diverse Alaska fisheries including Pacific cod, weathervane scallops, Pacific herring, and horsehair crab. Since 2001, Pat has worked as a research fishery biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service at the Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau. In his primary role, he studies the effects of commercial fishing on benthic habitats. These studies, utilizing both submersibles and scuba, have varied objectives from simple habitat typing to manipulative studies identifying effects of trawling at varied intensities.
Pat is also involved with other work that is attempting to determine growth rates of two species of sponge and two species of coral. These studies will help managers understand habitat and fishery interactions and allow for sustainable fisheries.
Those interested in checking out some of Pat’s work can find a good start here.
Some cool facts about Jen:
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Murmur
[Showing at the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota now through August 23th, 2009]
Murmur Study is an installation that examines the rise of micro-messaging technologies such as Twitter and Facebook’s status update. One might describe these messages as a kind of digital small talk. But unlike water-cooler conversations, these fleeting thoughts are accumulated, archived and digitally-indexed by corporations. While the future of these archives remains to be seen, the sheer volume of publicly accessible personal — often emotional — expression should give us pause.
This installation consists of 30 thermal printers that continuously monitor Twitter for new messages containing variations on common emotional utterances. Messages containing hundreds of variations on words such as argh, meh, grrrr, oooo, ewww, and hmph, are printed as an endless waterfall of text accumulating in tangled piles below.
Murmur Study from Christopher Baker on Vimeo.
On reducing pain and suffering
View Larger Map
Our pain and suffering can be greatly reduced by simple precautions.
On my bicycle yesterday, while cruising home from work, I was moving fast across a busy street and beginning to brake hard as I pointed the albatross [my bike's name] up over a curb onto the sidewalk just down the way from the restaurant in the map/picture above.
That’s when the handlebars gave way.
My entire weight was thrown over the bike and all I really remember is watching my wedding ring go flying off my finger, it’s gleam shooting across the street perpendicular to the one I was fortunate enough to make it out of before wrecking.
I laid there at first, wondering if my knee was dislocated [it has an unfortunate tendency to do this] and to make sure I was ok before moving. I could tell I was bleeding a lot on my knee because it stung very much and just had that “bleeding” feeling.
While lying there, the wonderful smells coming from Brasa [that's the place in the map above] across the street wafted over me and helped distract me from thinking the worst [now, the smell of the place is embedded in my brain and I will forever associate them with the incident. Smell is a powerful sense].
Next thing I realized was a fella standing over me asking if I was alright. He had stopped his giant truck in the street, hopped out and had been the buzzing sound in my ears. How long had he been standing there? I didn’t consider this at the time, I was just beginning to get my wits about me again. I was jubilant once I realized I had no major injuries, thanked him for stopping though he didn’t look too sure. I think he’d been standing there for awhile.
The bike is remarkably intact, however, last night by bedtime I could hardly walk – but I could walk! The infamous knee is quite swollen but in its proper place. For that I am joyous.
This morning the black and blue inside my thigh, on the outside of my thigh, the two center ribs on my left side and a baseball-sized patch above my stomach have emerged, though the cuts and scrapes on my legs and knee have already begun to heal.
Lesson : periodically go over and tighten EVERYTHING on your bicycle, whether it needs it or not. It could greatly reduce our pain and suffering.
Reducing our pain and suffering is a very good thing, indeed.
Perhaps, I will celebrate my full recovery with some *premium rotisserie*
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Area Man Writes Blog
LITTLE CANADA, MNâ€â€Local resident Steve Bachman, the self-styled “Bachster†of Internet obscurity, has announced plans to publish a blog. Family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and checkout clerks are bracing themselves for the expected onslaught of hintsâ€â€subtle and not-so-subtleâ€â€of the “you ought to check out my blog†variety.
Bachman believes that his catchy graphical hook, a black-and-white bust of J.S. Bach wearing crudely hand-drawn pink-tinted sunglasses, will set his blog apart from the crowd. “It’s been a big hit with my test audience,†he says, “many of whom have expressed the opinion that it’s a very cool and subtle way to brand the Bachster name.†He does admit, however, that a few of his readers have misidentified the image. The names Benjamin Franklin, Horace Rumpole, and “Ben Stein in a wig†have come up.
When asked if readers can expect a lot of self-revelatory writing, reflection, and evidence of personal growth on his blog, he says, “No, but I do expect to skewer everyone I know quite unmercifully.â€Â
Check out BachBlog if you likey : )
Keep up the great work, Steve – and remember, there are far worse ways to spend time.
For example, we could be stone-cold-Hollywood pimps defending our territory against would-be-take-our-hoes-ways-from-us-neighboring-pimps.
yeah.
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