April 2012
1 post
December 2010
1 post
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
Greetings and welcome my little Schneducatees to what will no doubt be another rabble-rousing edition of Physical Schneducation with your host Alex Schned. For all of us transplants no longer living within the confines of the great state of Minnesota, congratulations on not having to endure the blizzard that attacked our homeland this past weekend. Unfortunately, however, while many of us missed...
November 2010
7 posts
3 tags
Member Profile: Jennie Engelhardt
Jennie Engelhardt Co-Founder, Hare+Hart - an ethical leather company Current place of Residence: Lower East Side, Manhattan
Website and/or blog: www.hareandhart.com Facebook: facebook.com/hareandhart
In a sentence or two, describe what you do. I get to work every day with one of my best friends designing fun clothing and accessories. What is your Minnesota connection? I arrived in Minnesota ...
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MN munchies at your doorstep
Now, I’m normally one to advocate for the consumption of local foods as much as possible. But as a transplant, there are times when I’m desperate for a hometown favorite. If I don’t have wild rice soup at least a dozen or so times during the winter, I might die (for instance). I knew a Minnesotan in college whose parents sent her jars of Gedney Pickles to tide her over until holiday breaks.
...
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
Greetings and salutations, all ye pupils in the school of continuing Physical Schneducation. Class is back in session after your esteemed Schneducator was forced to take a hiatus from his posting duties thanks to some busy times in the corporate legal field. Many thanks to last class’ substitute, Mr. Harsha Kodali, for filling in on late notice. Unfortunately, however, it would appear as though...
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Member Profile: Sam Osterhout
Sam Osterhout, Radio Happy Hour Current place of Residence: New York City
Website: www.radiohappyhour.com Twitter: @samosterhout & @radiohappyhour Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Radio-Happy-Hour/126049254072975 In a sentence or two, describe what you do: I am the creator, head writer, and host of Radio Happy Hour, a live variety show that began in June, 2009 in New York City. The show,...
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Another Good MN Band Makes Another Great MN Music...
Blah Blah Blah… Yeah, but this one’s a lot of fun. I’m a sucker for “quirk-pop” which is a genre I just made up right now that I feel Sleeping in the Aviary fits into nicely along with other bands that I like.
They have a fun, uppity sound that makes you feel like any day is a nice day… even if it’s raining. You kinda want to go jogging in a retro...
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Today's The Day... Go Vote!
Come on Minnesotans and MN Ex-pats everywhere! Minnesota is known for leading the pack when it comes to voter turnout, but let’s harness that civic engagement that courses through our veins and let it loose around the rest of the country… wherever we are.
Here’s an impressive report I found titled “Minnesota Voters Turnout” by Eric J. Ostermeier and Lawrence R....
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From Pretty Dead Things To Sharktopus, Patrick...
Fresh off the close of his most recent art exhibition “Pretty Dead Things,” Minnesota’s Patrick Kemal Pryor (pictured second from right – in the back) is helping promote the SyFy Channel’s redonkulous film “Sharktopus” as well as his admittedly tiny speaking role in it.
I’ve been a fan of Patrick’s art for a long time and know him personally,...
October 2010
5 posts
1 tag
Rest in Peace, Eyedea. You'll be missed.
Sad news today. Twin Cities freestyle phenom and longtime member of Rhymesayers, Eyedea (Micheal Larson), was found dead in his Twin Cities home on Sunday. As a freestyle battler, the 28 year old rapper’s wins included HBO’s Blaze Battle in 2000 and Scribble Jam in 1999. Eyedea was also the other half of the duo Eyedea and Abilities. In memory, we wanted to share some clips of...
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Blog Action Day 2010: Water
Every year, thousands of blogs around the world participate in a day of action called “Blog Action Day” to join voices and bring awareness to a single issue. Today is that day and this year’s issue is “Water.”
While unsafe drinking water kills more people around the world every year than all forms of violence – including war (42,000 a week), Americans use 6.3...
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The Bob Dylan Fan Who Has Everything
What do you give the Dylan fan who has everything? A song written by the poet himself and dedicated to your friend? Bah, that’s been done (maybe). A pajama party and sleepover? Others could do that too and the memories will eventually fade. A curly lock of hair? Not unique enough, it’ll just grow back.
Nope. None of these will do. But now, for a mere $119,000 you can have a real,...
Physical Schneducation with Harsha Kodali
Welcome all to another barn-burning edition of Physical Schneducation, normally with your host Alex Schned. This week it seems Papa Schned is a tad on the busy side, so we’ve enlisted the help of previous PS correspondant and friend of the Culture Club Harsha Kodali to satiate your MN sports jonesin’. You all may remember Harsha from a past segment we ran entitled Harsh Words with...
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Lazerbeak's debut solo album released by Doomtree
Lazerbeak, Doomtree’s go-to beatmaker, has made a name for himself by making his peers sound great. But now it’s time for Lazerbeak to step into the spotlight with his debut solo album, Legend Recognize Legend.
Lazerbeak got started in the music business when he was 15, when he and some friends from Hopkins High School started the band “The Plastic Constellations.” ...
September 2010
10 posts
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Lookout for Roving GAYNGS
It’s a stew really, a melting-pot of Minnesota music. It probably wouldn’t be wrong to call GAYNGS the real MN Culture Club. This 23-member group made up of pinch of this and a drop of that and created by Ryan Olson has been blowing up the scene in Minneapolis all summer to rave reviews. And now, it seems that bowl is brimming. GAYNGS launches a 9 city tour on Wednesday the 29th and...
MN Film "Stuck Between Stations" Prepping for...
Not since the days of The Mighty Ducks have I been so excited about a movie that is actually based AND filmed in MN! “Stations” tells the story of Casper (Sam Rosen) a soldier on bereavement leave and Rebecca (Zoe Lister Jones) a grad student who are reunited by chance and spend a single random night in the Minneapolis underground getting into trouble, seeing old acquaintances and...
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"The Endless Bridge" will bring the Manhattan...
New Yorkers: don’t miss this!
Minnesota raised, current Brooklyner/Berliner, Leo Kuelbs does a little of everything. He’s a great dabbler. He self-publishes a small book of short stories every couple of months and curates shows with emerging to moderately-well-known artists out of his apartments in New York and Germany. He also puts together some seriously cool public video events.
...
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
Ughhh… Thank God we covered the Vikings in our last two posts so I have an excuse to not write about them today. Needless to say, things haven’t been looking so hot so far for the Purple. Favre looks old. The receivers look slow. Head coach Brad Childress looks as clueless as ever. I could go on…
… But I won’t. Let’s completely forget the Vikings exist for the next several paragraphs and...
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Minnesota Munchies: Gridiron Chex Mix
Every Minnesotan knows this to be true: the snacks you eat during football season are very important. So maybe you’re Minnesotan and you don’t watch football, but you can still appreciate the sentiment – your Minnesotan mother, or aunt, or neighbor, or friend’s mother, likely made some particularly tasty snacks during the fall/early winter that were not seen during other times of the year.
...
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"Hunting Club (The Plaid Album)" Released 3 Months...
I have to say I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I only discovered the band Hunting Club today. And when I say I discovered them, I mean, one of their members contacted me to correct a reference I made to them in my Say Like The French Say post. He was also kind enough to offer a link to Hunting Club’s debut album, “Hunting Club (The Plaid Album)” and guess what,...
MN's Piano Man to premier works by local composers
Watch out Osma, here comes Matthew McCright. A top candidate for “Minnesotan of the Year”, McCright has it all: lives in Minneapolis, teaches at Carleton, and travels the world performing classical and contemporary piano works. This is unconfirmed, but I’ve heard that he also roots for the Twins and loves cheese curds. As if that were not enough, McCright is also bringing to...
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
Yes.
Yes.
Y-E-mother-truckin’-S.
Are you ready? Let me repeat that: are you ready, army of loyal readers? Ready for what? You don’t know? Well let me make myself a little clearer: are you ready for some mamma-jammin’ football!?!? Good God I’m pscyhed for this season to start. I may or may not have been blasting Jock Jams all week psyching myself up and I may or may not be embarrassed by...
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We’re definitely not in Minneapolis anymore: Happy...
Horrendous traffic, earthquakes and smog are the common denominators between Tehran and Los Angeles and probably why a zillion Iranians settled there. My dad was one of eight Iranians that decided to settle in Minnesota instead of California because he met a beautiful Minnesota girl known as my mom. But, egged on by the Power Rangers, Saved by the Bell, California Dreams, Full House and the...
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Cinema Revolution Gears up for 'Minneapolis...
Cinema Revolution and IFP Minnesota have teamed up to put together “Minneapolis Project”, a series of 25 original short films dedicated to different Minneapolis neighborhoods and landmarks (think Uptown, Powderhorn, Sculpture Garden, etc).
The project has been compared to “Paris, je t’aime” and “New York, I Love You” but what makes this special (as...
August 2010
11 posts
3 tags
Say Like The French Say sounds good in English
There are a lot of CDs that teach you how to speak like the French speak but none of them sound so good and impart quite as little actual language knowledge as the new album by Minneapolis band, Say Like The French Say (did that come out right?). “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” dropped in mid-August and is the debut album by band members Adam Gears, James Nelson, and David...
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John Rasmussen Helps Shape the New York Art Scene
Anyone entering the Gladstone Gallery, in New York, this summer, confronted a free-standing row of blue and gray, steel gym-lockers wrapped around –a little too tightly–with nylon straps: the heavy-duty type usually used to secure freight to flat-bed trucks. The individual locker units at either end of the row are compacted under the pressure of the straps, aided by their hand-cranked...
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Physical Schneducation: Vikings Preview 2010
Head Coach: Brad Childress (Career Record: 37-30)
2009 Record: 12-4 (1st in NFC North)
2009 Playoffs: Lost in NFC Conference Championship to New Orleans Saints
Key Departures: RB Chester Taylor, OL Artis Hicks
Key Additions: CB Chris Cook, RB Toby Gerhart, CB Lito Sheppard, WR Javon Walker
Analysis: Fresh off of one of the most heart-breaking losses in Minnesota sports history, the Vikings enter...
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All the fun you can fit on a stick: New York’s...
Only war or polio outbreaks will keep Minnesotans away from the State Fair. (Seriously. Since 1859, there are only five years on record when the Great Minnesota Get Together didn’t get together.) Even the absence of Minnesota itself won’t keep ex-pats in New York City from re-creating the deep fried, barbecued and stick-laden cardiologist’s nightmare that is so bad it’s divine. Residents of the...
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Make the end of your summer constructive: The Hold...
I don’t often feel productive or compelled to be such in the summer. Then some beacon of Labor Day flips the light-switch: once upon a time ago it was the arrival of the State Fair, now it’s the commencement of the U.S. Open. Once I know either is on the horizon, my brain groggily wakes up and tells me “Okay, time to be a big kid and get back to work. Time to do … stuff.” Then I hit the snooze...
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And they’re off! 350 Solutions Revolution
While everyone and their mothers will be learning about Elizabeth Gilbert’s mission to Eat Pray Love in the comforts of an air-conditioned movie theater, on August 15th Katherine Ball, Alec Neal, and Paul Thompson begin a 3,500-mile journey from Portland, Oregon to Washington D.C. to “Bike Share Change” in the 350 Solutions Revolution. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “The ultimate...
Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
Past Two Weeks (10-3): 7/26 Twins 19 Royals 1 7/27 Twins 11 Royals 2 7/28 Twins 6 Royals 4 7/30 Twins 5 Mariners 3 7/31 Twins 4 Mariners 0 8/1 Twins 4 Mariners 0 8/2 Twins 2 Rays 4 8/3 Twins 4 Rays 6 8/4 Twins 2 Rays 1 8/5 Twins 8 Rays 6 8/6 Twins 6 Indians 7 8/7 Twins 7 Indians 2 8/8 Twins 5 Indians 4 8/10 Twins 12 White Sox 6 Next...
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Better late than never: Bob Dylan on tour now
An oft-cited idiom says “a rolling stone gathers no moss.” Bob Dylan hasn’t been seen in Minneapolis since November 2008, and he hasn’t released any albums since 2009’s Together Through Life and Christmas in the Heart; however, it doesn’t mean he’s stopped touring (or gathered moss). In fact, over the past few years, he’s been almost everywhere but Antarctica. Why? Hasn’t he earned a...
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Record timing: the 2010 Twin Cities Independent...
Apart from live gigs, there is no better sound than the whisper and scratch of needle on vinyl, or the crinkle of cellophane as you rip it off a new CD (okay, vinyl wins hands down). Regardless of where you stand on the Target Boycott it doesn’t mean you can’t support Minnesota businesses, especially those that help you find the soundtrack to life. Whether you love punk, hip-hop or hot jazz,...
6 tags
Mexicue? I so [Mexi]can get used to this!
Apart from the vague chimes of happiness of the childhood ice cream truck, I have never been one to chase automobiles (life advice: never chase after a man or a bus). But food? Yes, food is worth running after. Especially when it involves the words “Mexican” and “barbecue” such as the unique case with Mexicue. New York is big, yes, and food trucks abound, but until I heard about Mexicue from a...
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Owl City tour takes off ... with delays.
There’s good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad because it’s (hopefully) minimal. Technically, Adam Young a.k.a. electronic-emo-pop darling and Owatonna native Owl City has had to cancel the first three supporting performances with Maroon 5, starting with tomorrow’s gig in Toronto. In an earnest letter to fans on his website, Young wrote: “Right now I’m sitting on my...
July 2010
11 posts
5 tags
The ABCs of imbibing: Happy 1st Birthday,...
A is for A-Ha! North Loop native (and owner of North Loop Media LLC) Michael Tankenoff was enjoying a particularly rough Sunday morning perusing night-life iPhone apps when he realized there wasn’t anything out there that struck his fancy. At the time, only the Blood Alcohol Concentration Calculator (BACC) was available, and not to discredit that app, he said, but he wished there was something...
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Kristoff Krane: April showers bring May albums,...
Minnesota’s hip-hop scene has a humbling and ever-expanding roster: Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Doomtree, Muja Messiah, M.anifest, Desdamona, Eyedea & Abilities, the Usual Suspects, Los Nativos, El Guante. Another name to tote up is Christopher Keller a.k.a. Kristoff Krane. In May 2010, Krane self-released two albums: “Hunting for Father” was self-produced and “Picking Flowers Next to...
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
The Week Behind (5-2): 7/18 Twins 7 White Sox 6 7/19 Twins 4 Indians 10 7/20 Twins 3 Indians 4 7/21 Twins 6 Indians 0 7/22 Twins 5 Orioles 0 7/23 Twins 2 Orioles 3 7/24 Twins 7 Orioles 2 7/25 Twins 10 Orioles 4 The Week Ahead: 7/26 – 7/28 Twins (53-46) @ Kansas City (42-56) 7/30 – 8/1 Seattle (39-60) @ Twins (53-46) OK… So maybe things aren’t THAT bad for the Twins. As my army of loyal...
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New Minnesota music: "Your Love is a Poison" by...
Just in time for thirsty Thursday, the Melismatics released the danceable ditty “Your Love is a Poison” on July 20th. The Minneapolis quartet have been wooing fans since their turn-of-the-century debut “Postmodern Rock,” 2003’s album “New Infection” and 2005’s EP “Turn It On.” With the help of renowned producer John Fields (Jimmy Eat...
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You're a good man, Charles Schulz
(Detail from Peanuts - July 28, 1966)
Thanks to the lovely ladies at Surf Diva, I finally expressed my inner Gidget and learned how to surf a year ago. It was my first and only visit to California, a place I tend to daydream about when someone elbows me on the subway or uses an embarrassing number of explicatives to express disapproval of the barista at a coffee shop who used regular soy milk...
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Another MN Beatles Invasion
I just stumbled upon something marvelous. Really. It was music to my ears. It all started on a typical Sunday afternoon. I was sitting on my couch, scouring iTunes for albums that had the word “Minnesota” in them when I came across something called “The Minnesota Beatle Project”. At first I thought it may be some sort of nature recording of beetles indigenous to the...
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
The Week Behind (2-5): 7/4 Twins 4 Rays 7 7/6 Twins 7 Blue Jays 6 7/7 Twins 5 Blue Jays 6 7/8 Twins 1 Blue Jays 8 7/9 Twins 3 Tigers 7 7/10 Twins 4 Tigers 7 7/11 Twins 6 Tigers 3 The Week Ahead: 7/13 MLB All-Star Game 7/15 – 7/17 White Sox (49-38) @ Twins (46-42) With the Twins’ season slowly progressing from only mildly disappointing to borderline embarrassing, I thought we might introduce...
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Jazari: Where Music and Science Meet
Saint Paul native Patrick Flanagan made stops in New York City and Cologne, Germany before moving across the Mississippi River to settle in Minneapolis. He is the only human member of a musical group/project called “Jazari.” Jazari consists of Patrick and three machine percussionists that alternately play what Patrick tells them, respond to Patrick, or do their own thing. What...
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Top of the summer reading list: Main Street by...
There’s a point in the summer when my mind rebels: vodka-laced lemonades and trips to the beach spent baking in the sun don’t suffice. I usually hit this point by the end of July, and find that a good book is the best refuge. This year, Main Street celebrates its 90th anniversary, so in honor of Mr. Sinclair Lewis, I will re-read it. (I already made my pilgrimage back to the Twin...
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Cheese curds across America
I have an idea, one that I just think might make it: cheese curds = the new french fries. We Midwesterners have a long history of exports to bar menus - tater tots are now better known as “tots” at hipster dive bars up and down the west and east coasts and I’ve even seen my fair share of “frickles” at particularly trendy bars here in LA. But now it’s time for...
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Phasma Ex Machina Movie Hits Montreal and San...
Pronounced Phasma Eks Mah-kuh-nuh and latin for “Ghost from the Machine,” MN film “Phasma Ex Machina” seems to be spreading its wings. Writer/director Matt Osterman and his local cast and crew are packing their bags because their little movie-baby is hitting the festival circuit. Their film explores the grey area between life and death and how science may be the bridge...
June 2010
6 posts
3 tags
MN Culture Club Presents new video series starting...
Inspired by a couple of our favorite websites, La Blogotheque and The Black Cab Sessions, we’ve decided to endeavor on a video series of our own. If La Blogotheque can capture great live music videos with bands that go through Paris and The Black Cab Sessions can do the same in London, why don’t we create high quality yet simple and beautiful videos and nicely recorded and mixed...
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Physical Schneducation with Alex Schned
The Week Behind: 6/20 Twins 4 Phillies 1 6/21 Twins 5 Brewers 7 6/23 Twins 3 Brewers 5 6/24 Twins 0 Brewers 5 6/25 Twins 2 Mets 5 6/26 Twins 6 Mets 0 6/27 Twins 0 Mets 6
The Week Ahead: 6/28 – 6/30 Tigers (40-34) @ Twins (41-34) 7/1 – 7/4 Rays (44-31) @ Twins (41-34)
Welcome all to another edition of Physical Schneducation with your host Alex Schned. To my army of loyal readers, many...
6 tags
Wings & Teeth: The Art of Doomtree
CO, an exhibition space owned and operated jointly by Burlesque of North America and Permanent Art and Design Group is proud to announce it’s very first show: “Wings & Teeth: The Art of Doomtree.”
Doomtree is a record label. Doomtree is a rap crew. Doomtree is a family. It might be a surprise to some people that music isn’t the only thing that Doomtree does (and does...
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Prince to receive BET Lifetime Achievement Award
This has been a big month for Prince. Celebrating his 52nd birthday and now being selected as the latest musical legend to receive the BET Lifetime Achievement Award (read the Reuters article here).
While discussing the announcement, Stephen Hill (Prez. of BET) was quoted saying, “words are too weak to describe just what he means to our culture.” I could not agree more. Since...