http://www.mnstatefair.org/entertainment/FE_all_stages.html

A collection of other shows over the years…(full size image)

http://www.electrovoice.com/livex/

Kid two swim meet, Bloomington, Minnesota, followed by kid one band concert, Eagan, Minnesota

http://www.amsterdambarandhall.com/

Beastie Boys, Tenacious D and Ben Harper at Roy Wilkins, Nov 1, 2008, St. Paul, Minnesota

Iron Range M.C., Tower, Minnesota

A new collage of old school First Avenue tickets, Minneapolis, Minnesota (full-size image)

My first ever concert at First Avenue, Living Colour, April 25, 1993, Minneapolis, Minnesota

The City Pages Best Of issue got me thinking about some of my favorite things to do around this wonderful part of the country. I’m sure I’m missing things (and may change my mind), but here’s an initial shot at a metro area list. Ideas for outstate Minnesota are floating around in my head too.

1. Minnesota State Fair (above)

I write about this every year, so I won’t rehash, other than to say there’s a reason I’ve been to this every year since I was born. Pure awesomeness in so many ways – food, entertainment, people watching and much, much more.

2. Twin Cities Marathon

This also gets a lot of coverage on this site, as I’ve now run it 8 times. The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America® earns that circle “R” with fall colors, loops of the Minneapolis lakes, a stretch along the Mississippi River and a great finish down Summit Avenue past the Cathedral and State Capitol. Plus you never forgot your first.

3. Lebanon Hills Mountain Bike Trail

If you like mountain biking, this is my “don’t miss” track for the entire region. I’m relatively new to the sport, but I could ride this every day and not get bored.

4. Mall of America

A lot of locals say they hate the MOA, but sorry Burnsville Center, you just don’t cut when it comes to shopping on a grand scale. It can be overcrowded at times and I’m not a huge fan of the restaurants, but it’s still the place your visiting relatives and friends want to go when they come to town.

5. Barbette and Prohibition at the W

So many good restaurants in Minneapolis, but Kim Bartmann’s Barbette in Uptown continues to be my favorite because of one thing: flat iron steak frites. Mmmm…frites.

I’m not really a bar hopper, but Prohibition’s combination of Foshay architecture and atmosphere, great service, lovely views from the 27th floor and the wonderful ephiphany martini (Grey Goose La Poire, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur and Duvalleroy Champagne) could turn me into a regular.

6. Cecil’s Deli, Carbone’s Pizza and Ristorante Luci

Since I grew up in St. Paul, it’s much harder for me to pick one favorite restaurant in that fair city. Therefore I present three: Cecil’s Deli in Highland Park for the hot pastrami sandwich, the original Carbone’s Pizza on Randolph and Ristorante Luci for some of the best Italian food I’ve had anywhere. Rotating daily through these three for the rest of your life wouldn’t be a bad thing.

7. Hockey at the Xcel Energy Center

While this is the State of Hockey, our teams have had their ups and downs lately. One thing is certain, though, the overall hockey fan experience at the X ranks right up there with the best anywhere. Be it the NHL’s Wild, the hockey Gophers or the state high school tournament, I loves me some hockey in downtown St. Paul.

8. Chain of Lakes

Heading back across the river, the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes is really the crown jewel of the Twin Cities. That’s hard for someone raised in Saint Paul to admit, but it’s true. Whether you run, walk, bike, rollerblade, sail, kayak, swim, drive, ski or skate them, you’ll be hard-pressed to not feel good about it afterwards. All that plus great park facilities and food options too.

9. First Avenue & 7th Street Entry

My first show at First Avenue was Living Colour in 1993. Somewhere I have a scan of all the tickets from early shows I attended, back when they had cool sparkly ink and you could usually score free tickets to another show each time you left the building. Can’t wait to get back to see the latest enhancements to the room…

10. Hazeltine National and Interlachen Country Club

Minnesota has a lot of great public golf courses, but there is nothing quite like these two private clubs. If you have the connections, make it happen. Both have history, conditioning, great staff, strong layouts and a day on the course you’ll remember for a long, long time.

Any favorites I missed?

MPR’s Fitzgerald Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Kid two spring concert, Eagan, Minnesota

Outside Lands Music Festival, August 10-12, 2012, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California

Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply, Woodlands Ballroom, April 14, 2012, Fortune Bay Resort Casino, Tower, Minnesota

Woodlands Ballroom, Fortune Bay Resort Casino, Tower, Minnesota

Launch Party preparing for their first show, Hell’s Kitchen, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Tickets to the Wits April 27, 2012 show at the Fitzgerald with Fred Willard and Dan Wilson

http://www.resortent.com/resortrocks/

http://www.bonnaroo.com/

When my daughter’s favorite group, Atmosphere, announced they were performing in the first ever winter show at my favorite venue, Red Rocks, we had to figure out a way to make that happen. After some mad Google Mapping and creative budgeting, the road trip was on.

We packed up the MINI and hit the road last Thursday afternoon. After a quick stop at the Axel’s Bonfire in Eagan to eat some free birthday Bull Bites, we drove to Lincoln, Nebraska (420 miles). Holiday Inn Express was our hotel of choice this trip, thanks to their decent breakfast food and relatively low prices.

On Friday, we drove from Lincoln to Littleton, Colorado (500 miles) and checked in earlier than planned at the hotel. I totally forgot about the time change, so we had an extra hour before the concert started. We hit the local King Soopers grocery store to check on discounted lift tickets (not a great deal – skipped it) and had dinner at a surprise Chick-Fil-A (totally forgot they are in Colorado). I don’t care what anybody says – that food is damn tasty!

The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30, but I wanted to hike around Red Rocks before the sun went down. We had about 45 minutes of daylight, which turned out to be just about perfect. Since we were so early, we also got an awesome parking spot in the VIP area immediately below the main exit. We hung out in the car until gates opened at 6:30 and made a beeline to the merch table, which unfortunately was at the very top of the amphitheater. Many stairs later, the kid got what she wanted and we hiked back down to row ten to watch the show (it was general admission, so we took what we could get).

The bill consisted of Get Cryphy, Grieves and Budo, Common and headliner Atmosphere. Get Cryphy was playing as soon as the gates opened, which was nice. The set by Grieves and Budo was brief, but entertaining. Technical difficulties delayed the start of the Common set by about 30 minutes – I felt bad for his band (two keyboardists, a drummer and an MC), who just sat there in the cold the whole time.

I’ve listened to most of the Atmosphere albums, but there are still a lot of songs I just don’t know. This was not a problem for the kid, though, who sang along to everything. I do know that God Loves Ugly was the opening song and Brother Ali finally came out for the very last song (which wasn’t really an encore, as all the performers went off stage for only a minute or two at the end). The crowd was a little rowdy, but the close quarters and movement helped keep it warmer. A few snowflakes added character, along with lots of “special” smoke in the air, too…

The show ended around 11:45 and we were able to beat the worst of the traffic, thanks to our great parking spot. We made it back to the hotel around 12:30 and were back on the road by 8:30. I decided to skip Beaver Creek this time, opting to take the Loveland Pass over to Arapahoe Basin. I-70 looked good on the traffic cams at 7AM, but all three lanes were bumper-to-bumper about five miles up the grade. We finally made it to the Loveland Pass exit and I white-knuckled it up and over the treacherous two-lane road with no guard rails. Even driving my own car with snow tires, I wasn’t comfortable at all and will probably skip that option in the future.

A-Basin was just perfect. I had been there once before in high school and not much had changed. I take that back – they had a great new high-speed detachable lift right in front of the base chalet and a nice mid-mountain restaurant called the Black Mountain Lodge, where we had lunch. Rentals were quick and easy for the kid and I loved the pricing, which was cheaper than what we paid in Minnesota. Since they consider teens to be kids and not adults, her lift ticket and rental was only $59. Add in my $74 adult ticket and you had quite the Colorado bargain.

We took most of our runs off of that high-speed quad, with the “green” run Sundance being her favorite. Parts of that run are steeper than most “blacks” in Minnesota, so I didn’t mind skiing it like a mid-length cruiser. I was also quite fond of High Noon and took a few runs from the top of the mountain too. I would’ve done more up there, but the wind really picked up as the day went on. We managed around ten runs total before stopping around 3PM.

The rest of the trip was basically a big highway blur: Arapahoe to North Platte, Nebraska (320 miles), overnight one last time at the Holiday Inn Express, followed by 640 miles back to Minnesota on Sunday. We stopped for a steak lunch in Omaha at the lovely Upstream Brewing Company in the Old Market part of town and had some boring Wendy’s in Clear Lake, Iowa, for dinner.

Great trip, but oh so short. First vacation in three years, though, so I’ll take whatever I can get.

Now to figure out how to finally become a ski bum…

Atmosphere at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, Colorado

http://www.redrocksonline.com/

First winter concert at Red Rocks, Atmosphere, January 27, 2012 – can’t wait!

Soundboard, The Purple Experience at Fortune Bay, Tower, Minnesota

Kid two winter band concert, Deerwood Elementary, Eagan, Minnesota

Fun show tonight at First Avenue, as my friend Terry and I went to see Mike Doughty (formerly of Soul Coughing fame). The very interesting Moon Hooch opened (loved the sound of the huge bass clarinet thing).

Doughty and his Band Fantastic were recording the show for eventual release, but they suffered through several technical and performance issues as the night progressed. Thankfully sound quality wasn’t an issue most of the time at this show (unlike the Paul Simon concert I saw there last). We had a great spot directly behind the soundboard, so that probably helped too.

To the disappointment of some in the crowd, Mr. Doughty said he had buried the old Soul Coughing songs and wouldn’t be playing any of them (but said you can still keep them on your iPod). He actively encouraged people all night to steal his new album Yes and Also Yes online, saying he just wants people to listen to it.

I didn’t get a set list photo, so I’ll have to watch to see if anyone posts one and update this entry later (I counted roughly 19 songs in all). A few of our favorites included Na Na Nothing and Rational Man from the new album, Busting Up A Starbucks, Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well and Tremendous Brunettes from Haughty Melodic and 27 Jennifers from Rockity Roll.

Mike Doughty Tickets for Terry and I, First Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Kid One Before the Atmosphere Concert, University of Minnesota Homecoming, TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

As I write this, there is still a day and a half left of the 2011 Minnesota State Fair. As a huge fair fan who has attended the event every year of my life, it’s hard not to think about sneaking in one last visit. This year I’ve gone three times, though, so it’s probably better if I save what’s left of my money and do something else with the rest of the long holiday weekend.

Visit #1 was to run the State Fair Milk Run 5K, which I’ve done with kid one the past several years. This year the rest of the family decided to sign up and walk it too, which was cool. Kid one decided she didn’t want to run with me, so I was free to attempt a PR. The course winds through the hills of Saint Anthony Park and those said hills kicked my butt a little. I ran the first mile in 6:52, but slowed to a 7:24 in the second (really hilly) mile. I ran a 6:48 third mile, though, and was able to finish in 21:42 (6:59 overall pace). That beat my old 5K PR by about a minute and a half and was good enough for 7th in my age group and 69th overall (in a field of about 1400).

My dad had purchased Twins single game tickets at the beginning of the baseball season and happened to pick Milk Run day as the game to take me to for my first visit to Target Field (which I liked more than I thought I would). It was an afternoon game, so we spent a few hours at the fair after the race, then he picked us up on Como for the drive to Minneapolis. We decided to return to the fair after the game, which worked out well – plus it was a rare August 2011 Twins win too.

Visit #2 was unplanned – my mom had tickets to see Garrison Keillor perform his Prairie Home Companion show at the grandstand, but didn’t feel up to going. My dad and sister had the other two tickets, so I met them there. The seats were amazing (third row center) and the show had the added benefit of four songs by the Jayhawks (Closer to Your Side, She Walks in So Many Ways, Blue and Over My Shoulder). Sara Watkins was really good and I enjoy seeing all the regular cast members as well (Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Tom Keith, etc.). Also got to visit with an old high school friend for a bit before the show (and saw an old co-worker who plays in a band near the beer garden afterwards).

Last night we all went back as a family to see Weezer at the grandstand. Since we missed machinery hill the first day, we decided to get there around 1:30 and cover that half of the fairgrounds. It was crowded everywhere, but the afternoon went by quickly and a cold westerly wind kicked up. By the time the opening act started to play (Motion City Soundtrack), I was really wishing I had worn something other than shorts and a T-shirt. Weezer was very entertaining (Star Tribune review) and fireworks both nights seemed better than usual. Here’s the Weezer set list:

• Surf Wax America (Blue Album)
• We Are All on Drugs (Make Believe)
• Troublemaker (Red Album)
• El Scorcho (Pinkerton)
• Say It Ain’t So (Blue Album)
• Hash Pipe (Green Album)
• My Name Is Jonas (Blue Album)
• Dope Nose (Maladroit)
• Pumped Up Kicks (Foster the People cover)
• Island in the Sun (Green Album)
• Perfect Situation (Make Believe)
• (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (Raditude)
• Undone (The Sweater Song) (Blue Album)
• Pork and Beans (Red Album)
• Beverly Hills (Make Believe)
• ENCORE:
• Paranoid Android (Radiohead cover)
• Buddy Holly (Blue Album)

Contrary to my normal eating pattern, I actually tried two new foods this year: pretzel dogs (hot dog on a stick, wrapped by a large soft pretzel) and sweet corn ice cream. The former was located in a booth near the horse barn and came with optional butter and a side of melted cheese for dipping. Aside from the pretzel slipping off of the hot dog, it was really good. As for the sweet corn ice cream, I don’t think I’ll be needing to order that again. $5 lesson learned, I guess.

Kid one gets to return with her aunt tomorrow to see Train and Maroon 5. She will also be old enough to work at the corn roast booth next year, so we all have that to look forward to. Mark your calendars now: August 23 – September 3, 2012!

Work was pretty awesome today…

More in the gallery here.

I have to admit, I wasn’t that crazy about paying a lot of money to see the Pearl Jam dude sing ukulele songs all night. I mean, I like Tiny Tim and all, but after you hear a couple, they all pretty much sound alike. My fears were unfounded, however, as the ukes were mostly put away after the first few songs. The very nice show program listed 21 instruments for Mr. Vedder, ranging from various acoustic and electric guitars to mandolin to banjo to five different ukeleles.

There were lots of Pearl Jam songs and covers (see the set list below) and solo opener Glen Hansard joined in several times over the course of the evening. This was the first time I’ve ever seen an opening act get multiple standing ovations, which was especially well deserved for his Van Morrison cover of Astral Weeks. Hansard’s hands were moving faster at the end of that song than any other guitarist I’ve seen live (including Richard Thompson, Prince, Mike Campbell and Robert Cray).

Not sure what the promoters were thinking, but they set up the lone merchandise stand immediately inside the doors to the Orpheum, which caused a huge backup. Add to that their inability to actually process transactions in a timely manner and you had a huge problem. Colleen was almost first in line, bought just one thing and didn’t get through there for almost 20 minutes.

Security was really trying to enforce the “no pictures” rule, but I think bands and venues just need to give up on that one. I also wasn’t too thrilled with the fan club policy of “pay us and we’ll give you a random set of tickets somewhere in the theater, but you won’t find out until you get there” deal. If the tickets were $20, fine, but I’d really like to know if I’m going to be way in the back before shelling out big bucks.

Enough bitching, though. It was an entertaining show by a couple of talented musicians who truly seemed to be happy performing in Minnesota. Love was all around…

Set List (from Chris Riemenschneider’s Star Tribune Review):

• Can’t Keep
• Sleeping By Myself
• Without You
• More Than You Know
• Goodbye
• You’re True
• Dead Man
• Just Breathe
• Off He Goes
• Better Man
• Love Boat Captain
• Long Nights (with Hansard)
• Setting Forth
• Far Behind
• Guaranteed
• Rise
• You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Beatles cover)
• Unthought Known
• The End
• Arc
• ENCORE 1:
• Long Road
• Wishlist
• Sleepless Nights (Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris cover with Hansard)
• Society (Jerry Hannan cover with Hansard)
• Falling Slowly (Hansard’s Swell Season opus with Eddie dueting)
• 4th Of July (X cover)
• Porch
• ENCORE 2:
• Hard Sun (with Hansard)
• Dream A Little Dream

The opportunity to see 69-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Paul Simon at the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis for $50 was just too good to pass up. How many more times will that ever happen? I had to take some vacation time to make the mid-week concert, but I was glad I did. The new online ticketing site Etix worked perfectly when I bought the tickets and the will call system was smooth too – minimal lines at the multiple entry points.

This was obviously not your typical First Ave audience, which I discovered as soon as my neighbor Tim and I entered – people actually got there when the doors opened. We arrived a half hour later and the place was already jam packed. I normally like to stand by the soundboard, but we couldn’t get close to that. We ended up in a spot back by the rear bar and had a number of tall people in front of us, which sucked. Being by the bar at First Avenue is like being in the tenth row at a normal theater, though, so the view was still pretty decent (although the mobile phone picture above is crappy).

The crowded conditions took a back seat, however, to the sound. This was by far the quietest show I’ve ever seen there. This was a major problem for two reasons: 1) a lot of the songs were either acoustic or quiet on purpose and 2) way too many stupid people continue to talk during shows there. “Turn it up” became a rallying cry after almost every song. I’m just amazed the club allowed that to happen, but I guess the bright side was no ringing in my ears afterwards.

The ex-Mr. Carrie Fisher (and current Mr. Edie Brickell) was so fun to watch as he worked his way through the long set list (see below). He was quite short and seemed to be enjoying himself, even if he didn’t engage the crowd much between songs. At the very end of the show, he did introductions of the large band, but that was about it for banter.

I had heard samples from the new album, but have not purchased it yet. The So Beautiful or So What songs were all pretty good, but people obviously wanted to hear the old hits. Many of those were restyled, which was pretty cool (especially compared to people like Sting, who do the same thing over and over and over).

The highlight of the night for me was the solo acoustic version of The Sound of Silence that opened the encores. Almost everyone in the place shut up for that one, which added to effect (similar to when Tracy Chapman played Fast Cars there). The second encore closer was a perfect choice: Still Crazy After All of These Years.

Here is the full set list according to Jon Bream at the Star Tribune:

• Boy in the Bubble (Graceland)
• Dazzling Blue (So Beautiful or So What)
• 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (Still Crazy After All These Years)
• So Beautiful or So What (So Beautiful or So What)
• Vietnam (Jimmy Cliff cover)
• Mother and Child Reunion (Paul Simon)
• That Was Your Mother (Graceland)
• Hearts and Bones (Hearts and Bones)
• Mystery Train (Elvis Presley cover)
• Slip Slidin Away (Greatest Hits, Etc.)
• Rewrite (So Beautiful or So What)
• Peace Like a River (Paul Simon)
• The Obvious Child (The Rhythm of the Saints)
• The Only Living Boy in New York (Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel)
• Getting Ready for Christmas Day (So Beautiful or So What)
• Love Is Eternal Sacred Light (So Beautiful or So What)
• Father & Daughter (The Wild Thornberrys Movie Soundtrack)
• Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Graceland)
• Gumboots (Graceland)
• ENCORE 1
• The Sound of Silence (Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. – Simon & Garfunkel)
• Kodachrome (There Goes Rhymin’ Simon)
• Gone at Last (Still Crazy After All These Years)
• Here Comes the Sun (Beatles cover)
• Late in the Evening (One-Trick Pony)
• ENCORE 2
• Still Crazy After All of These Years (Still Crazy After All These Years)

Jeers to the soundboard, but cheers to Rhymin’ Simon!

$50 for three concerts? How did I ever afford my rock-and-roll lifestyle back in college…

No, not the real Radiohead – Phil Callen, Kevin Dutcher, Adena Brumer and Molly Sue McDonald covering Radiohead songs (and others) last night in Minneapolis. I posted videos of two songs on Facebook (here and here). And here are a few audio clips I recorded on my phone:

High and Dry

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Karma Police

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Creep

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The show was a lot of fun – Phil’s wife was in town and I got to chat with Jim Cunningham again, which is always entertaining. Talked a little with Adena after the show (who performs with Phil and Jim at the Saint Paul Hotel’s version of It’s A Wonderful Life) and met Kevin Dutcher for the first time (who is the music director for the Minnesota Twins).

Two specific highlights for me from the show: 1) the medley that went from Psycho Killer into Fade Out and Adena’s cover of Creep towards the end of the show (see link above).

Never been to the Bedlam before either – super easy access from the Cedar-Riverside light rail station and a nice vibe inside. Also picked up a rare “this is what you get when you mess with us” T-shirt…

My job has taken me to Loveland, Colorado, the past two weeks to work on a large education project. I’ve enjoyed working on this one a lot – the scope is large and interesting, the client employees are great and I’m working with a very knowledgeable co-worker for the first time. Loveland and Berthoud are very nice towns with the typical western U.S. look to them (and majestic mountains off in the distance).

Food and lodging have been pretty nice – the Best Western I’m at was recently remodeled and the locally-owned restaurants I’ve been to have been excellent (Bent Fork Grill and 4th Street Chophouse). I’ve been loving the Chick-fil-A across the street from the hotel too (maybe loving that a bit too much).

Last week I took an evening off and drove down to Morrison, Colorado, to catch the Joe Cocker/Tom Petty concert at Red Rocks. That venue was amazing and is by far the best place I’ve ever seen a live show. I took a walk around the Trading Post trail before the show and got a little winded on the 1.4 mile trek. Stunning scenery, though.

As for the concert, both acts were firing on all cylinders. I enjoyed Joe Cocker’s set more than I thought I would, with lots of great songs (You Can Keep Your Hat On, With a Little Help from My Friends, Shelter Me, You Are So Beautiful, etc.). The official Tom Petty site has a nice summary of the show with photos and here is the setlist:

• Kings Highway
• Listen to Her Heart
• Won’t Back Down
• Free Fallin’
• Oh Well
• Mary Jane’s Last Dance
• Driving Down to Georgia
• Breakdown
• Jefferson Jericho Blues
• Taking My Time
• First Flash of Freedom
• Running Man’s Bible
• I Should Have Known It
• Good Enough
• Learning to Fly
• Don’t Come Around Here
• Refugee
• (encore) Running Down a Dream
• You Wreck Me
• American Girl

Heading back to Minnesota tomorrow night. Up next: Tapemark on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then off to Hurley, Wisconsin, for another week.

Last weekend was my favorite annual tradition – two days at the Great Minnesota Get-Together in Falcon Heights. This was the 40th year in a row for me and was the most crowded visit yet (although I guess it was not a record).

We had tickets to the Saturday night grandstand show, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock, so we decided to get there in the early afternoon. Our usual secret route to the parking lot across from the coliseum was totally backed up, but we did get a spot. Lines at all of the food booths were 10-15 deep and the streets were jammed with people.

The concert itself was entertaining. “Fake Skynyrd” was OK, the people watching was great and Kid Rock was an awesome performer. After the show, we watched the nightly dance party at the corn booth, then said hi to our friend Art, who performs every day at the Cafe Caribe stage.

Sunday was the 25th annual Milk Run 5K, which kid one and I ran together in 34:34. We saw a few neighbors out running too and my mother-in-law stopped in at the finish. It always amazes me how many people we run into at the fair each year.

The kids used up their Kidway tickets in record time and we hit most of the buildings and food stands we planned on, then left around 3PM. I spent a lot of money and ate a lot of food, but didn’t seem to gain too much weight this time. The stomach did need a few days to recover from the grease onslaught, though.

Earlier this week, Colleen and I were invited to a free blogger night at the latest Cirque du Soleil touring show to visit the Twin Cities, Kooza. If you’ve visited here in the past, you may know that Cirque shows are one of my fetishes.

I actually had purchased four tickets to see this show when it was originally scheduled to make the U.S. premier in St. Paul a year ago. After they announced the re-scheduled dates, I purchased two tickets to take my mom next week as a mother’s day gift. These free tickets were a nice bonus surprise that gave me the chance to take Colleen as well.

The Grand Chapiteau makes its first appearance on my side of the river and fit in nicely off the corner of Kellogg and Broadway, overlooking the Mississippi River. Parking was easy and inexpensive at the St. Paul Farmer’s Market lot ($5) and traffic in and out of our midweek 8PM show was almost non-existent (even with a mostly full crowd).

Reviews of this show in both main newspapers were good (although I just read the headlines to avoid spoilers), so I had high expectations going in to this one. I won’t spoil anything here either, but will say that this is one of the best Cirque shows we’ve seen and is well worth attending.

The St. Paul run has been extended through August 9 and discounted tickets can be purchased for selected shows via this link.

As I recently wrote about Robert Cray, watching masters perform their craft is one of the most rewarding experiences for me. Kooza is full of masters – catch them if you can…

Last night Colleen and I got to see something you don’t normally get to do – watch a masterful musician perform in a very small club. The Robert Cray Band was performing at the Cabooze in Minneapolis and we were up close and personal.

It only took me 40 years of living in the Twin Cities, but I finally made it to the Cabooze. It was smaller than I expected and the layout was sort of goofy for live music, but the sound was good. I thought parking was going to be a problem, but we read the sign about free parking at AIOIC and all was good.

We’ve now seen this band play at the Minnesota Zoo, the Minnesota State Fair, the Fitzgerald and maybe one or two other places. Last night’s concert included a few new songs from an album Mr. Cray said is coming in August. Two songs in particular, Chicken in the Kitchen and Love 2009, were great and fun to hear. Other highlights for me included Right Next Door (Because of Me), Back Door Slam, Time Makes Two and The One in the Middle. I don’t think he played anything from Twenty this time – sort of hoped to hear Poor Johnny.

Overall, though, it was a great show and this continues to be a group I’ll see whenever they come to town. One final note: Jim Pugh on the Hammond organ is a sight to behold. Go Jim, Go!

Last night Colleen and I went to see Morrissey at the State Theater in Minneapolis. This was our first time seeing him perform live, although we had seen him in person once before:

A few years ago, he was doing a show at the Las Vegas House of Blues that we almost attended. The next day as we were leaving town, he was in line in front of us at the airport Cinnabon! No one else was in there but us, Morrissey and his band. We sat at the table next to them and listened in until they left. We still stop at the “Morrissey Cinnabon” every time we go back to Vegas…

The show openers were the Manchester band The Courteeners, who played an entertaining, enjoyable set. I had to ask the guys behind us to please stop yelling back and forth and take their conversation out to the lobby – why does this happen at every show now? Shut the hell up, already, and listen to the music.

Damn I hate that.

As the roadies broke down the Courteeners gear, they played older videos of the New York Dolls and Shocking Blue, among others. Once the curtain was torn down, the stage opened up to a cool WWII-era photo of a sailor showing his guns and smoking a cigar. Here’s a crappy iPhone picture:

I don’t have a set list yet, but I think it was very similar to the Chicago show two nights ago:

• This Charming Man
• Something is Squeezing My Skull
• Billy Budd
• Black Cloud
• How Soon is Now
• Irish Blood, English Heart
• How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
• Ask
• I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
• The World is Full of Crashing Bores
• Death of a Disco Dancer
• The Loop
• I Keep Mine Hidden
• One Day Goodbye Will be Farewell
• Seasick, Yet Still Docked
• Best Friend on the Payroll
• Let Me Kiss You
• Sorry Doesn’t Help
• When Last I Spoke to Carol
• I’m OK by Myself
• – Encore –
• First of the Gang to Die

I’m not an ultra-Morrissey fan, so I don’t know all of the song titles by heart. I’ll revise this list when I see something posted elsewhere. I do know that he dedicated a song towards the end to “our friend Jill Smith who passed away in London today” and proceeded to play Life Is A Pigsty.

A few songs I was hoping to hear (but didn’t): Glamourous Glue, Redondo Beach and I Have Forgiven Jesus (which, if you ever used to watch the old Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, holds special meaning). I knew those were all long-shots, but otherwise really loved the show. The version of How Soon is Now? was amazing and I was glad he played my favorite song from the new album – When Last I Spoke to Carol (despite the lack of a trumpet and old western sound effects).

The 49-year-old Englishman took off his shirt twice during the show and a near riot broke out during the encore as people tried to jump up on the stage. The tall, young Lurch of a security man stage left seemed to enjoy his job a little too much, violently throwing people back into the crowd. You know it’s bad when the huge bald security guy has to restrain the tall, young security guy.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the evening, however, was the woman in the row in front of us. She really liked Morrissey and had more energy and dance moves than I’ve seen anywhere in a long time. And I’m about 95% sure she had multiple orgasms during the course of the evening.

Not a bad deal for $40, eh?

UPDATE: Here is the Minneapolis set list, according to the Star Tribune:

• This Charming Man
• Billy Budd
• Black Cloud
• How Soon Is Now?
• Irish Blood, English Heart
• When I Last Spoke to Carol
• How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
• I Keep Mine Hidden
• Let Me Kiss You
• Seasick, Yet Still Docked
• That’s How People Grow Up
• Death Of A Disco Dancer
• The Loop
• Something Is Squeezing My Skull
• The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
• I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
• Sorry Doesn’t Help
• Ask
• Life Is A Pigsty
• I’m OK By Myself
• – Encore –
• First Of The Gang To Die

Originally scheduled to make the U.S. premiere in St. Paul, Kooza is finally re-scheduled to come back. Shows start July 3rd and are currently on sale to Cirque Club members for various dates through July 26th (no shows on Mondays or on Tuesday the 21st).

Pricing for this show is sort of complicated (see this page), but basically ranges from $60 to $215 for adults and from $42 to $150.50 for kids age 2-12. Discounts are also available for students and seniors on non-peak performances. Children under 2 years old are free, but must sit on a parent’s lap.

I believe the big top (or “Grand Chapiteau”) will be in the parking lot off of Kellogg in Lowertown overlooking the river. Capacity for each performance is 2,600 and the show is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, including a 30-minute intermission.

Even though Cirque is one of my fetishes (and I had purchased four tickets for the last time this show was supposed to be here), I’m not sure if we will be going to this one. I definitely can’t afford to take the whole family, but maybe Colleen and I can sneak away for two cheap seats.

A day after our return from Florida, Colleen and I took a two night trip out to Las Vegas to celebrate my 40th birthday. We stayed at the Bellagio and met our friends the Millers for dinner at the new BLT Burger restaurant, followed by the 9:30 showing of the Beatles Cirque show, LOVE. The American Kobe burger was great, especially with a vanilla shake. It was sort of weird eating where the white tigers used to lounge around…

We are huge fans of Cirque du Soleil and had high expectations for LOVE. Unfortunately, they were a little too high. If you take away the incredible music of the Beatles, you are left with a very average Cirque show. We’ve seen many of these acts before in other shows, but performed with more flair. One exception to this was the roller blade act, which was truly remarkable. It’s a shame so many of the other acts were just so-so (by Cirque standards). At least there weren’t any annoying clowns!

Despite the recession, Las Vegas is still an expensive town. While we found good deals on the hotel room and the show tickets, almost all of our meals were more than $50 for two people (even breakfast) and I still can’t believe places think they need to charge for refills on $4 sodas.

I was a little disappointed in two of my favorite travel companies – Sun Country Airlines and the Bellagio. Sun Country has added the luggage charge to the first checked bag, added fees for advance seat selection and most importantly, dropped the free cheeseburgers. I guess I’d rather have them stay in business, but they were one of the last “good guys” when it came to these nice customer-focused policies.

As for the Bellagio, I had emailed them ahead of time telling them we were coming out for a special event, but no one said or did anything until the last day. A casino loyalty program worker came up to us while playing video poker and offered to bring us reprinted cards (we had left ours at home). When he checked my ID, he wished me a belated birthday. I know they are a huge hotel run by a huge corporation, but that’s what databases are for, right?

Gambling was as fun as ever, although I ended up down about $25. I wish I could be like the guy in jeans and a T-shirt sitting at the $300 minimum blackjack table with his girlfriend, but I got nervous enough at the $5 table and quit after about 15 minutes. The poker room at the Bellagio was calling me too, but I chickened out – I think I need a few test runs at the local casinos first. Video poker was a nice substitute, though, and I actually enjoyed playing the slots this time too.

What a city…

According to an email from them, Lutsen Mountains is opening Saturday, November 22, 2008 with five runs on Ullr Mountain. They are making snow and hope to have 20+ runs open by Thanksgiving weekend.

Early season deals include 2 for 1 lift and lodging (through December 18) and a free concert on Saturday night at the always great Papa Charlie’s by slide guitarist Nathan Miller.

Still way behind on posts, so here’s the most recent…

A week ago Saturday, Colleen and I went down to Roy Wilkins Auditorium (site of our high school graduation) to see Tenacious D, Ben Harper and the Beastie Boys for a Rock the Vote concert. We’ve never seen any of them before and tickets were only $35, so we decided to use the valuable tickets instead of selling them to a broker (the 6,000 ticket show sold out instantly).

I was just as excited to see the D as I was the Beastie Boys, seeing as how my work servers are named JB, KG, Lee and Sasquatch. They only played for about 45 minutes, but it was awesome:

• Kielbasa
• History
• Dude (I Totally Miss You)
• Kyle Quit
• Friendship
• Saxaboom
• The Government Totally Sucks
• Wonderboy
• City Hall
• F*ck Her Gently
• Tribute

The Ben Harper set was extremely loud. I didn’t really know much about him going in, but he played well and was enjoyable. JB and KG came out for some vocal contributions during a cover of Queen’s Under Pressure, which was one of the highlights of the night for me.

The Beastie Boys set was a total flashback to our high school days. 44-year-old MCA is still our favorite – such a cool, unique voice. He definitely has lost a step on Mike D and King Ad-Rock, though. Mix Master Mike shined during Three MC’s and One DJ and I loved the opening to No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn, which sent chills down my spine.

The sound in the auditorium wasn’t the greatest for their vocals, but it was plenty loud on everything else. The boys all played instruments during the encore, which was a trip to watch. I especially enjoyed seeing MCA play the distinctive riff from Gratitude. I was also happy to have Ad-Rock repeatedly correct Mike D about which city he was in. Maybe it was that Andy Samberg hair messin’ with his mind…

Here is the set list, as quoted by the Star Tribune:

• Super Disco Breakin’
• Flute Loop
• Alright Hear This
• Sure Shot
• Pass the Mic
• Check It Out
• Root Down
• Body Movin’
• No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn
• Right Now
• Three MC’s and One DJ
• So What ‘Cha Want
• Intergalactic
• – Encore –
• Biz Vs. Nuge
• Time For Livin’
• Gratitude
• Sabotage

Vote for Yo Mama!

There is something sort of sad about going to a concert by yourself, but such are the economic times we live in. Last night I went down to the State Theater in Minneapolis to see one of my favorites, former Talking Heads front man David Byrne. I had read all about the tour on his great web site, so I mostly knew what was coming. Some thoughts:

• The sound was uncharacteristically bad for the State – the first song sounded like we were in a tin can and it was hard to understand what he was saying in between songs.
• Nice mix of songs on the set list (I’ll watch for someone to post it) – mostly new songs from the latest Byrne-Eno CD along with Talking Heads classics like Take Me to the River, Once in a Lifetime, Heaven and I Zimbra. Not much in the way of David Byrne solo songs, though (were there any?).
• Nice size musical ensemble on stage (Byrne, three back-up singers, two percussionists, bass and keyboards). While I would rather see Chris, Tina and Jerry up there, this group played well together. LOVED the dueling drums at the beginning of Burning Down the House.
• The three dancers were a nice addition to the show – fun to watch, yet not too distracting from the songs. One of the three seemed really happy to be up there and her enthusiasm filled the theater.
• I’m don’t know much about contemporary dance, but my first thought was “wow, this is very New York art scene.” After a few more songs, though, I started thinking that a lot of these moves could have been in Napoleon Dynamite.
• My only complaint about the dancers was having them out for songs that already had dance moves associated with them from Stop Making Sense. Same as it ever was…
• The group seemed honestly happy about the audience response at the end of each set. I think that helped get us one more song tacked on at the end of the second encore (the haunting Everything That Happens).
• The crowd was decidedly older than average. I realized on the way out that the first Talking Heads album is now 31 years old, so teenagers then are almost fifty now. Damn.

All in all, a very entertaining evening. Come back soon, Mr. Byrne!

Last Friday Colleen and I went to see Robert Cray at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. After a short opening set by Paul Metsa and Sonny Earl, Mr. Cray and his band performed for about 90 minutes.

I didn’t write down the set list, but it was a nice mix. Colleen thought there were two new songs, but one of them sounded familiar to me (could have been a cover). Unfortunately, I don’t see any reviews online today, so I’ll have to go by vague memory (not in order):

• Phone Booth
• Twenty
• Smoking Gun
• Poor Johnny
• Bad Influence
• Time Makes Two
• 12 Year Old Boy
• Right Next Door (Because of Me)
• I’m Walking
• The One in the Middle

It was keyboardist Jim Pugh’s 54th birthday and he put on a Twins T-shirt that someone threw onstage for him as a birthday present. His Hammond organ solo was great, although I thought it wasn’t quite as energetic as the Minnesota Zoo concert a few years back.

Mr. Cray is an awesome guitarist. This was the closest we’ve sat for a concert and his facial expressions and finger work during solos were amazing. As I tweeted after the show, it would be incredible to see him jam with Richard Thompson sometime.

Also ran into Western Petroleum president Rick Neville in the lobby before the show. He was also at the Minnesota Zoo concert – small world…

Yesterday we went to the Rock the Garden event presented by the Walker Art Center and 89.3 The Current. Artists on the bill included Andrew Bird, The New Pornographers, Cloud Cult and Bon Iver.

The performances were good, but the setup was awful. They shut down Vineland Place and set up the stage across from where the old Guthrie Theater stood. It was pointed east towards downtown, but there were several problems with that: people in the street had to look right into the setting sun, most of the food vendors were also set up in that area and a large part of the crowd sat on the hill to the south, which had terrible sound.

We missed most of the Bon Iver set waiting in line – first to pay at the automated parking kiosk and then to get in to the actual performance area. Once inside, it was wall-to-wall people everywhere. This was made worse by a large fenced off VIP area that hardly had anyone in it. The only uncrowded area was the aforementioned hillside, which would have been perfect if they had any speakers pointed that way. I’m sure that was to appease the neighbors, but it would make the venue so much better.

Most interesting performance thing we saw (before we left early) were the two painters in Cloud Cult creating new artwork during the performance that they auctioned off afterward. Never seen anything like that before…

Last weekend my wife and I went to see our favorite comedic group make a triumphant return to Minneapolis. The Kids in the Hall 2008 Tour stopped Saturday night at the Orpheum Theater (after previously appearing at the State last time they were here). Watching the gang in person – Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson – is like hanging out with old friends.

The show was fairly short (maybe 90 minutes), but included one very funny NSFW video, chicken lady phone sex, Cathy tweeking, a Gavin sketch, The Salesmen, a Buddy Cole rant (“Twin Cities men – nothing mini or saintly about them!”) and an encore with the headcrusher. Those guys are such a funny and talented group – Canadian entertainment at it’s finest!

Before the show, we stopped at Ristorante Luci in St. Paul for dinner. Their food is as good as the Kids are funny. We both started out with the Insalata Cesare, followed by a shared order of housemade fettuccine with peas, chicken and prosciutto. That pasta was awesome – the first outside of Alfredo’s I’ve had that is worthy of the name. For the final course, my wife had the pork chop, while I had “American Kobe” beef with mashed potatoes. We had early reservations, but had to leave for the show before we could try the pretty mini-bundt cake desert.

Oh yeah, one last note on the show. I read about the tour on one of my newsfeeds and went to Ticketmaster to search for more info. I saw the Minnesota date listed, but general public sales hadn’t started yet. There was a link for a presale, but I didn’t know the code (or who was sponsoring the presale). On a whim, I tried “KITH” and damn if it didn’t let me in. As you can see from the ticket above, row N on the main floor was a pretty good reward for this old hacker…

Last night my wife and I went to see Mary Lucia of the Current interview Chuck D and Slug from Atmosphere and hear Brother Ali perform during their season-ending Fakebook series event at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but it was a very entertaining evening. Brother Ali performed two songs at the start (including an awesome version of Letter from the Government with added verses at the end), followed by about an hour interview of Chuck D.

There was a short intermission, then Slug performed a few songs (including Guarantees from the new album When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold). Slug joined Chuck D on the couch and Mary interviewed both of them. Brother Ali came out again at the end and performed one song solo, followed by a free-style jam with Slug (no old school rap from Mr. Ridenhour though, dammit).

Chuck D talked about the early history of hip-hop, including stories about Rick Rubin at Def-Jam, Flavor Flav, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. There were a lot of great quotes and references–hopefully MPR posts the audio somewhere so I can go back and write them down. Not much talk about the future of the music business like I wanted, but it would still be great for the students at HSRA to hear the whole interview. Ironically, he said he visited my high school, St. Paul Central, earlier in the day (“Dave Winfield and Charles Schultz–how can you go wrong?”).

If the Fakebook series comes back again, check it out–great format at a decent price.

There are very few artists I will travel out of town to see, but Richard Thompson is definitely one of them. When I saw he was playing the very small Papa Charlie’s Tavern and Stage in Lutsen, I ordered my ticket and booked a room for Saturday night.

I’ve been to the Papa Charlie’s restaurant before, but had never seen a show there. The ticket said doors at 8pm and I arrived a little after 7:30. Walked right in without showing my ticket and couldn’t figure out how they were going to set up the place. I ended up talking to what I think was the venue manager and he had me turn in my ticket for a wristband and said the small area in front of the stage would be standing room only, with some bar stool chairs along the back wall.

Once I knew the lay of the land, I camped out on the edge of the stage (stage right, about four feet from the mic). The sunken area in front of the stage is barely big enough for a ping pong table (which was actually what was there when I first arrived). A crowd of between 350-400 (per the manager) filled in behind me and we were ready to go at 9pm, when the stage manager turned down the lights.

Unfortunately, they came back up a few minutes later and they announced the show would start at 9:30 instead. Once he took the stage, this is what we got to hear:

• Bathsheba Smiles
• Walking on a Wire
• Crawl Back (Under My Stone)
• Down Where the Drunkards Roll
• Dad’s Gonna Kill Me
• The Hots for the Smarts
• I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
• Sunset Song
• 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
• How Will I Ever Be Simple Again
• Cooksferry Queen
• Persuasion
• I Feel So Good
• Genesis Hall
• Johnny’s Far Away
• Pharaoh
• Valerie

First Encore:

• Beeswing
• Wall of Death

Second Encore:

• I Misunderstood

I enjoyed the show a lot and just kept staring at his hands for most of the show. Just amazing finger work, with the highlight probably being the solo towards the end of Valerie that closed out the 90-minute main set. I was happy with the song selection–Bad Monkey from the new album being the only song he didn’t play that I would have liked to hear (maybe the next electric show?).

His between song banter was in the usual Richard Thompson style, with my favorite line being “I’ve never been this far away from civilization before.” I brought a paper notebook with to record the set list (“for those of you taking notes”) and got one good shot with my iPhone (see above). The crowd was very receptive the whole night–I’d guess it was about half “true” fans and half skiers looking for some apres-ski entertainment.

Fun, fun time. Thank you Mr. Thompson!

A fan of his Daily Show appearances, I got to see Lewis Black in person this weekend at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake. He’s even funnier live and uncensored. Every golfer needs to hear the rant he did about golfing–hopefully that will be released on a future CD or DVD.

Opener John Bowman was funny also, but he seemed to forget his lines a few times.

The new theater at Mystic was very nice, although the crowd flow after the show was awful. They also need to open up the Meadows Grille on show nights-we couldn’t get in to any of the other sit-down restaurants before the show.