Readings/Lectures

Erotica 101: Rachel Kramer Bussel teaches all the right lessons

Filed under: Readings/Lectures

Rachel Kramer Bussel is the most famous cupcake blogger ever to have penned more than 100 erotic stories.

Since she penned her first lusty tale -- a Monica Lewinsky-inspired narrative -- during law school in 1999, Bussel has been writing extensively about sex matters, fictional and otherwise. First, she was asked to co-edit an anthology of spanking erotica. Then, she wrote a column for the Village Voice for nearly three years. Now, besides continuing her own writing and editing of erotic volumes, she teaches workshops for would-be practitioners of the craft. This weekend, she's in town to lead just such a group at the Smitten Kitten. We spoke with her twice by phone to get a sense of what one of these workshops entails.

Bussel, who teaches the Erotica 101 workshop on Saturday and reads on Sunday, has done three such seminars in the past. "Every time, it's been interesting," she says. "People have these great ideas, and the stuff they write –- we do some reading aloud –- is really wonderful."

What's the most important thing to consider for a first-time erotica writer? "I don't think people need as much help on the writing front as they do on the encouragement front," Bussel says. Many writers, however enthusiastic, come with some measure of nerves. "Once people hear someone else reading work aloud, it breaks the tension."

Rachel Kramer Bussel reads "Flirting With Santa" from Alison Tyler's anthology "Naughty or Nice? Christmas Erotica Stories."

There are writing exercises, ("write a story using two sex objects around you," for example) a bit of reading aloud and guidance from the professional. "Either people come up with humorous stories -- or really hot stories," she says.

That's Bussel the teacher. What of Bussel the prolific writer and editor, whose credentials include editing the Best Sex Writing 2008 compilation? Since much of her work is about sex and relationships, it skews the boundary between what's personal and what's for an article.

The double-edged sword of personal writing is evident in some of Bussel's favorite work. Her 2001 story "Lapdance Lust," about her first lapdance, contains no sex. "There's a – not necessarily a naivete, but a willingness to believe in the fantasy of the strip club that's sweet in a way," she says now. Another favorite piece is about a breakup, a true story (called "The End") about someone who wound up reading it later. While they're friends now, she says, writing about real life is "a tricky thing. It's important to be totally free when you're doing the writing, but afterwards, it takes on a life of its own."

Occasionally, a family life of its own. Bussel writes a blog that addresses personal matters, and she recently found out her 84-year-old grandfather was reading it.

There was a bit of reflexiveness to the disclosure. Said grandparent has a memoir coming out in November himself about being a POW during World War II that contains tons of disclosures -- such as his visit to a prostitute at the age of 19 -- Bussel never would have known otherwise. "It was really surreal to read that," she says now, "but I think we understand each other better as a result."

Granddad might just be the most supportive person in her family. He's certainly more supportive than Bussel's mother, who doesn't like what she does for a living. "She's a lot more private, a baby boomer feminist," Bussel says. "He gets the need to share things through writing."

The best thing about writing erotic material, she says, is that forces her to be creative. During the nascent stage of her career, Bussel's fiction contained some autobiographical elements. Since, she's moved on to write about things that have little or nothing to do with her -- stories about gay men, stories written from different perspectives. "I can't just fall back on the same setting," she says. "It forces you to step outside yourself, and also to see that you have things in common with people you didn't think you had much in common with."

The multifaceted Bussel's cupcake blog, which has seen her featured on such outlets as The Martha Stewart Show, offers her a respite from the daily, ahem, grind of sex writing. Still, the subject is near and dear. Two helpful tips she offers for would-be erotic scribes:

1. Write something that uses the words that you would use, and something that you would find generally sexy. If you try to sound like someone else, it doesn't work as well. Go with your instincts.

2. You don't have to start off with a sex scene. Having sex scenes is important, but the characters – who they are, why they're there – can be even more important. Pay attention to the motivations of the characters as much as their physical actions.

Above all, don't be intimidated. "Erotica's very democratic," she says. "Everyone has a way to enter into it, whether it's a fantasy you had, or something that you've done."

Rachel Kramer Bussel teaches an Erotica 101 workshop on Saturday, May 3, from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. at the Smitten Kitten, 3010 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55408. $15, limited sliding scale tickets available. Pre-registration required: 612.721.6088. She's also giving a free reading at the Smitten Kitten the next day, Sunday May 4, from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 1, 2008 10:56 AM | Comments (1)

 

Easy Writer: Minnesotan Richard 'Dead Eye' Hayes lives life on the road

Filed under: Q&A , Q&A , Q&A , Q&A

Photo by Sue Kearns

A one-eyed Buddhist Harley rider and a 70-year-old writing teacher probably seem like an unlikely pairing.

Yet it works for Richard "Dead Eye" Hayes and Mary Gardner. The two formed a friendship after Gardner began researching motorcycles for her fourth novel, infiltrating the biker community with her homemade cookies. With her editing help, Hayes eventually penned his autobiography, Outlaw Biker: My Life at Full Throttle. In it he details years spent in the Twin Cities dealing drugs, helping to run a bike shop, and raising two daughters, plus high-stakes gambling in Vegas and kicking ass in general. Both Mary and Dead Eye took a moment between writing to speak with City Pages.

CP: You and Mary are an unlikely collaborative pair. Can you talk a little bit about how you two became friends?

Dead Eye: About five years ago a friend of mine, Butch, passed away. I met Mary at his funeral. She was an author that had hung around the shop while researching her fourth novel, which had some bikers in it. I ended up meeting her just shortly before it came out. She asked me to do a blurb for the book, which I did. We got to be friends. She suggested I write my life story, and she talked me into giving it a try. So I ended up giving her 30 pages of childhood experiences. That was the start of it.

CP: Did you ever think you would pen your autobiography?

DE: No. I dropped out of school in ninth grade, and I'm a terrible speller. So writing a book was not on my list of things to do. When I did sit down to write it, I really didn't think it would ever get published; I did it more as a cleansing thing. Then all of a sudden we had agents and the manuscript was accepted. I was faced with the realization: Shit, maybe I shouldn't have written a lot of the stuff I had. It was nerve-wracking. I showed the book to my daughters and other family members. Some of them had had some idea that I had been involved in certain things, but some stories were a complete surprise.

CP: Mary, as you were editing did you ever find yourself censoring things from his past?

MG: I think there was a certain amount of self-censorship with Dead Eye. I think the book is amazingly open for a man of that generation who has led that life. To be able to put all those experiences down I think is a tremendous expression of Dead Eye’s nature and to his honesty about himself.

CP: Do you think Dead Eye had any worries about having so much of his life out there?

MG: I think he’s afraid of losing some of his street cred. I think it’s not so much the violent stuff he had done. His concern was that I might be upset. Of course it didn’t upset me at all, because it’s just his life. He also reveals a lot of tenderness about himself. There might be a little concern that he will be seen as too nice.

CP: Mary, what was it like hanging with bikers? Were you ever completely out of your element?

MG: Not at all. I felt honored that I was accepted because it is a very closed community. I always thought they were beyond imaginable fun. I was one of those girls that played cowboys all the time. I'm not a tomboy, but I find that outlaw image very interesting. You have to realize, in biker society, members can be violent with each other and into criminal things, which isn't true so much now as when Dead Eye was young. Bikers are also almost always chivalrous to children and old ladies.

CP: Mary, do you ever get frustrated by negative perception people might have of bikers?

MG: I think a lot of us have trouble imaging how a life that isn’t like our life is a valid life; not just with motorcycle people. I’m not a crusader, I don’t speak for or against bikers, people just have their lives. Obviously, Dead Eye has perceived some things in ways I don’t perceive them. But we aren’t put on this earth to make over other people perceptions. I’m sure Dead Eye finds many things about me different to say the least.

CP: Dead Eye, you've really seen the Twin Cities bike scene come of age. How has it changed over the years? Has it changed at all?

DE: I think it's changed a lot, especially in regards to motor clubs. Thirty years ago a lot of the clubs where just forming. People were fighting for positions, and everyone was building reputations. We were laying the groundwork. The whole atmosphere was different. It was more "wild west." Twenty-five to 30 years ago, there was a lot of conflict between clubs. Now, I am vice president of the Minnesota Motorcycle Club Coalition, which encompasses 20 different motorcycle groups. The lines of communication are now more open between clubs. You can pick up a phone instead of a bat. I think everything has to evolve. Twenty-five years ago it was looser and rougher. I myself was involved in drugs. Now, everyone has moved on from that mentality. People have jobs, we're working, and we have families.

CP: You mention in later chapters that you practice Buddhism. How has that affected your day-to-day life? Many of your past occupations (drug dealing, collections bounty hunter, chef) strike me as a little un-zen.

DE: I try to be more understanding. I’m not quite as quick-tempered as I used to be. I do a little inner searching before I do something. Some old habits are hard to break. I try to be more understanding with people, but sometimes it doesn’t work.

CP: I find it intriguing that it's not entirely uncommon that motorcycle enthusiasts to practice Buddhism. Do you have any theories as to why?

DE: Maybe it’s the openness, the honesty, the inner searching you spend on a motorcycle just thinking. A lot of people turn to inner thoughts when on the road; I know I do a lot. I can be having a terrible day, and every thing is going badly, yet when I jump on a motorcycle, it just blows out all the cobwebs.

CP: Anything upcoming events that you are excited about?

DE: We’re putting on several poker runs this year. The money for one will go to Camp Courage, and another is going to Fishing without Boundaries, which helps handicapped kids. We’re also doing a toy drive around Christmas. We do work to change the biker image. A lot of people are stuck with the 60s mentality of what motorcycle clubs used to be, especially the police.

CP: Why the recent harassment?

DE: They’re looking for guns and drugs. They’re 25 years too late. We’re not really into that anymore.

Hear Dead Eye and Mary discuss Outlaw Biker, which is in its third publication and has recently been published in England, tonight at Magers & Quinn.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at April 23, 2008 4:20 PM | Comments (2)

 

Another Voice May Speak: Mary Oliver

Filed under: Readings/Lectures

In Mary Oliver's world, prayers are made of grass.

The legendary poet read from her new work, Red Bird, at the State Theatre on Sunday. Because we are, in Oliver's parlance, on the shoulder of two seasons, many of the poems chosen were spring-themed. This is not a stretch for the Pulitzer Prize-winner: she has a poem entitled "Spring" in every book, a cyclical renewal where form mirrors content.

That's where the grass comes in. It is more than a metaphor in her well-loved poem "Mindful"; green fields and rich meadows are the places where communion is reached. Oliver's primary influences are the 19th century masters, especially Walt Whitman, who had his own relationship with grass. This influence shows in her technical proficiency, but also the poet's gentle fusion of nature with the spiritual.

Mary Oliver. Photo by Rachel Giese Brown.

This is usually explicit. In "Gethsemane," the lines about Jesus flow right into a line concerning a cricket. Or in
"Praying," a mantra-like poem which celebrates attention to small things. Even in the Percy poems, verses scripted in honor of Oliver's six-year-old Bichon Frise, we see a series of relationships with the transcendent.

These poems also highlight the distinction between reading Oliver and having her present, voicing the lines. The humor comes out more, both in subtle lines about having more than one copy of the Bhagavad Gita available and in the over-the-top jibes at Donald Rumsfeld. It's one thing to enjoy the poems quietly on your own, and quite another to share Oliver's cleverness communally with hundreds of others.

Another pleasure gifted to audience members was "Thinking of Swirler," an Oliver poem that has not yet been collected into any book. The bittersweet poem about a deer with one bad leg who is taken by a bowhunter is both lovely and heartbreaking.

But the heart must be broken sometimes. It is necessary. This is another Oliverian principle expressed most poignantly in the poem "Lead":

I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world.

In response to a query from the crowd, Oliver declared that her poems "absolutely" are meant as prayers. Prayers made of grass, and loons, and iris, and keenly gathered words.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at March 31, 2008 6:53 AM | Comments (0)

 

Reservations with Anthony Bourdain

Filed under: Food , Food , Food , Food

One only has to tune in to the Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations to see that in the past two years the man has truly become a globetrotter. Hardly a regurgitation of the Zagat-approved restaurants of the cities, Bourdain dines on the street, with locals in hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and even occasionally at private residences. His show, much like his writing, can be hilarious, critical, and endearing—all in one segment.

Although he received a lot press for merging politics with food as war broke out in Lebanon, that special episode was hardly the first suggestion Bourdain has made that food and politics are intertwined. For example, recently while traveling through Texas and Mexico, Bourdain struggled with the concept of borders, citizenship, and the people who deal with these issues on a daily basis—all while dining in Texas on sushi prepared by a Mexican chef. Although he was traveling in Jamaica with a cold at the time of this interview, Anthony Bourdain managed to take a moment to chat with City Pages.

City Pages: How do you feel about the rise of the celebrity chef? Do you feel that it’s good for the industry? Is it detrimental in any way?

Anthony Bourdain: I think that on balance, it's a good thing. Even at its most annoying—if you're talking celebrity "chefs" and not including the industry created bobbleheads, the phenomenon has raised the hopes and expectations and prestige of working cooks. Kitchens have more pride and hope than when I started out—and that can only be a good thing. And almost anything that informs the public and raises their awareness and knowledge—aspirations and expectations for a meal is a good thing. The downside is the poor bastards who are taking out huge student loans to go to cooking school at age 35—without really knowing what they're getting into. Basically—if you're going to culinary school to be a "celebrity chef," you are in for a very hard—and likley very short ride in the restaurant biz. The industry will always shake out the unprepared, the uninformed, the weak, and the delusional. A lot of nice people are going to get shredded in the interim. Prestige may have grown for cooks—but the work itself is NOT glamorous.

CP: Has your cooking style changed since traveling extensively for your show?

AB: No. I cooked old school French bistro classics ‘til the end of my cooking days. Even I am not so arrogant as to think I could cook Thai food—or add anything to that glorious, centuries old tradition, after only a few weeks in Thailand.

CP:Have you ever been terrified of a meal (be it the situation or the actual food)? How did you get through the experience?

AB: Chicken McNuggets terrify me. That, and uncleaned warthog ass encrusted with sand, fur, crap, and redolent of undigested reflux. I won't be having that again. Oh yeah—I think those Cinnabon things are pretty scary. They're fucking huge. You see some Jabba-sized monster shoving one a those things into their face in an airport at six in the morning? That's the sort of thing that haunts your dreams.

CP:Do you have any theories as to why Americans are obsessed with food safety, yet continue to consume junk food?

AB: We're afraid of everything these days. We're quickly becoming a nanny state—and it's not just us. The EU is way ahead of us in building in and reinforcing the notion that the State owes you a guarantee that everything you could possibly shove in your mouth is "clean," "pure, " and without any risk. It has been decided that we are too stupid to make even the most basic of decisions about our lives—what to put in our mouths. We have essentially called for our own infantalization, and not without reason. One only need look at the current stats for expected cases of Type 2 diabetes, percentage of Americans currently considered "morbidly" obese, or unhealthily overweight, to see the point of view.

CP:If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

AB: Sushi. It's clean, it's light, it's delicious. I would, of course, want Masa Takayama preparing it for me.

CP:How do you feel about people that say they search for “authentic” food—people that expect to eat Thai food in Minnesota as if dining in Thailand, for example. Does the addition of the cream cheese wonton to a menu destroy any attempts at authenticity? Is authenticity important?

AB: Authentic first. I'm willing to try and occasionally enjoy improvs on the classics. But just as chefs should know and respect the classics before expanding their horizons, I think diners should know the "real thing" before they start eating cream cheese, crawdad, and avocado novelty hand rolls at Cajun Sushi Dome.

See Anthony Bourdain read, sign, and discusses his latest book, No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach at the Triple Rock tonight. The event is all ages, free, and starts at 7:00 p.m.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at November 26, 2007 3:01 PM | Comments (0)

 

Artists speak out on homelessness

Filed under: Readings/Lectures

If language is indeed a loaded weapon, as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, then local spoken word performers are armed and dangerous -- not to other people, but to complacency, fear, and in this case, homelessness.

Sunday marked the third in a series of four performances where artists presented statements, personal and political, about being forced from home. A diverse array of voices took the mic. The rapid-fire stylings of Verse gave way to the jazzy feel of e.g. bailey's band-backed poetics. The incendiary lyrics of El Guante found their counterpoint in the charms of a traditional African story told by "Auntie Beverly" Cottman. All had been touched in some way by homelessness, seen it affect family or friends; some had experienced indigence firsthand.

"Auntie Beverly" Cottman finishes her story to applause. See the photo gallery from the event.

Kate Searls, one of the event's organizers, said the project's goals are "to increase community awareness, empower the young people and their families, and promote a community-wide re-assessment of the options currently experienced by the more than 40,000 young Minnesotans who each year must live away from home."

By casting a wide net for different types of performance talent -- hip-hip aficionados, dancers, poets, storytellers, interested community members with a narrative to share -- the event's organizers moved squarely toward that goal. One performer, Truthmaze, used statistics spoken over jazz and reggae beats to get the point across. Others, such as Paris and Amy Salloway, used more personal material drawn from their own lives.

The three works brief, intense works recited by El Guante spoke more broadly about how art impacts the human condition and how communities respond to crisis. Curator Sha Cage, one of the co-founders of the Minnesota Spoken Word Association, appropriated a line from his last offering as an impromptu mantra for the evening. "Give me a bridge," she implored the audience of dozens to repeat, "and I'll build." The response Cage wanted came quickly.

The exhibit counterpart to the performance runs Oct. 6-Dec. 29 at the Minneapolis Central Library, and includes visual and narrative art. The final performance event is Dec. 13, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Download eight tracks from four different artists -- and find links to more information -- after the jump.

MP3 DOWNLOADS
e.g. bailey, "Descended From Drum," 6:23
e.g. bailey, "America," 5:51

El Guante, "Ink," 3:53
El Guante, "Small Talk," 3:49
El Guante, "Bridges," 1:51

Truthmaze's meditation on homelessness, 3:55

Verse, "Africa," 3:08
Verse, "Lesson One," 1:52

ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB
Tru Ruts, a multidisciplinary arts organization featuring Sha Cage, e.g. bailey, Truthmaze and others

El Guante's homepage, blog and MySpace

e.g. bailey's homepage and MySpace

Sha Cage's homepage and MySpace

Amy Salloway's MNartists page

Truthmaze on MySpace

Sponsoring organizations:
The Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest

The Minneapolis Central Library

Posted by Jeff Shaw at November 12, 2007 8:15 AM | Comments (1)

 

It's Minnesota Beer Time!

Filed under: Food , Food , Food , Food , Food

It's no shocker that the Midwest, often referred to as the Grain Belt, makes great beer. And though lately Minnesota has experienced a beer renaissance of sorts with brands such as Surly and Summit, as well as notable brewpubs like Town Hall, Minnesotans have been producing beer as far back as colonization. Doug Hoverson, a beer judge, teacher, and drink enthusiast, has meticulously reconstructed the history of Minnesota beer, from homebrews to Hamms to the present, in Amber Water: The History of Brewing in Minnesota. He took a moment in his busy schedule to chat with City Pages.

CP: What originally peaked your interest in Minnesota beer and its history?

DH: When I was at college I had some friends that got me interested in beer other than the readily available, heavily advertised, light beers, and when I came back to Minnesota it was just as Summit and James Page was starting to bring out their new beers. From there I started experimenting with different types of beers to see what was out there. I didn’t really have the idea for writing a book for another 10 years— I was looking at some old newspapers from Morehead back in the 1880s to for a paper I was writing on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and I came across some ads from old breweries I had never heard of. At that point I started to look around to see if there was a book on MN breweries There wasn’t. I thought it might be a fun book to write so I got started.

CP: I see that you’re a beer judge. How does one become an expert in the subject? What are some of things you look for during competition?

DH: The process for training is basically, local homebrew clubs put on a 40-hour class usually 3 hours a night over 12 to13 weeks. At the end you take a three, three and a half, hour and a half test where you describe beer styles, write sample ballots on mystery beers, and describe the brewing process. It’s a fairly tough test. You have to know a lot of trivia about types of ingredients and particular styles. Judging it, it’s really more like a dog show than anything else— it might be the cutest dog ever, but if it doesn’t look like what that particular type of dog is supposed to look like, it can’t win. With beer it’s the same thing—it might be your absolute favorite beer, but if they’re claiming it’s a pilsner, and it doesn’t have the right characteristics, it’s not a winner.

CP: Have you found you have a greater understanding and appreciation of chemistry through your beer research?

DH: Definitely! When I was working on the book, as well as training to be a beer judge, I had to learn things about amino acids and temperatures of reactions—things that I paid no attention to when I was doing chemistry in high school and college.

CP: What are some common misperceptions about beer—be it historical inaccuracies, or just general beer misperceptions that irk you?

DH: One of theories that comes up is what exactly bock beer is. There seems to be a perception that bock beer, because it’s much darker, is whatever is left in the tank at the end of the year, and they scrape that out and turn it into bock. There’s never anything left in the tank at the end of the brewing cycle, it’s absolutely clean afterwards. Bock is simply made stronger, with a darker grain mix. It would be like saying you made a pot of tea, and whatever you scrape at the bottom is coffee— you have to make coffee, and bock is an intentional product.

CP: It’s curious that the beverage industry often reflects trends in society more so than many other products. Why do you think that is?

DH: Beer is ultimately a luxury product. I think because of that it is more sensitive to trends. You don’t have to have it, so you’re going to choose it for enjoyment and the types of things that cause enjoyment change with the culture. There’s a big move with organic beers for example, because that has become important to people. For some, being accepted by a big group is what’s important, so Miller Lite, Bud Lite, and Coors is what you are looking for in a luxury product.

CP: It sometimes seems like we are moving away from local and independent businesses—bookstores being an obvious example. Yet the exact opposite seems to be happening with beers—Surly, for one, has become quite a local superstar.

DH: I think one difference, especially in the case of bookstores or small independent newspapers, is that it's hard to enjoy beer over the internet. There's something about the place where you're enjoying the beer. A lot of the enjoyment is the setting. One of the reasons Coors was so popular in Minnesota in the '70s, and Fat Tire is so popular now, is that it's a beer that people had out West on vacation, and so it has a good association.

CP: Are there any recent local beer developments that have you excited?

DH: Surly brewing is one that has to be mentioned. They’re products are always creative. I think it’s interesting that they decided to start canning instead of bottling. That way, it also finds a different customer group—people that play ultimate Frisbee or take it to the beach— the outdoorsy set The scene around the Twin Cities is quite active with Surly, Flat Earth, and the old standbys. There’s a lot of good beer being made—raising the standards so hopefully we can get away from people having to have 12 Miller Lites to have a good time, how about 3 or 4 nice beers. We’re not quite Milwaukee or Denver, bu we do have a lot of good people. It seems like all of the brewers really get along. There’s competitiveness at tasting events and festivals, but they’re all friendly and complimenting each other.

CP: I’ve noticed a certain stigma amongst beer snobs with canned beer…

DH: Which is another misconception. Let’s face it—the inside of a keg is an aluminum can. Most of the negative association comes from that when people drink straiggt from the can, they can taste whatever was on the top of the can. Plus, the beer hasn’t had a chance to get rid of the excess carbon dioxide from being poured into a glass.

CP: Amber Waters lays out a timeline of beer brewing and consumption in Minnesota that actually predates Minnesota as a state. What were some of the methods you used to reconstruct this history?

DH: There were a fair number of limitations because a number of the documents from the time are long gone. Sometimes I knew a brewery was in a town before the town had a newspaper, sometimes I would discover just by luck that someone else had recorded it and that info made it into a history book. Sometimes I would find references in family histories to someone starting a brewery. A lot of the earliest material was really tough to find. Once we're into the 1850s, almost every town had a newspaper, and at that point I could track info on a much more reliable basis. By 1862, the excise taxes were collected by the federal government, so I had incredible details on who brewed how much and when because the government needed their money.

CP: What are some of the more interesting examples of breweriana you came across in your research?

DH: I hadn’t realized that some of the first beer had been packaged in stoneware bottles. There were a number of early brewerina (items produced with beer logos on it)— and really early, it’s few and far between, but by the 1880s, breweries were buying taverns and stocking them with extremely fancy signs, and furniture with the logo on it.

CP: Do you keep a hefty collection yourself? I noticed that a lot of the pictures in the book are credited to your collection.

DH: Not particularly. Most of my stuff is fairly cheap. I collected mostly because I knew I would need them for the book.

CP: Do you anticipate another bust in small, local breweries in the future? Do you view the new era of microbreweries and smaller brewers as a progressive success, or is the industry cyclical?

DH: In this particular case, if there's a bust it will be a long ways away. There was a little bit of a shake-out in the craft breweries in the mid-1990s, but there weren't too many Minnesota breweries affected by it since there weren't too many at the time. Minnesota breweries have been creative and smart about making sure that they aren't duplicating each other's product. Schell is famous for their pilsners, wheat beer, and Octoberfest. Summit is more famous for their pale ale and porter. Surly makes beers that defy style guidelines.

CP: What do you think have been the strengths and weaknesses of MN beers, both past and present?

DH: Well, I think the brewers that function in Minnesota are as good as any in the country. We have some really top-notch people doing really creative work. One of the limitations of Minnesota brewing is that some of the laws are more restrictive than in other states. So, some people interested in starting a brewery somewhere might not pick Minnesota because of the tangled laws that they have top cut through, and there are a few that were interested in Minnesota, and they just discovered that Wisconsin was easier to deal with.

CP: Any tips for people interested in getting into homebrew?

DH: The best tip would be to check in with people at homebrew stores, and join a club. We have an upcoming event—on Saturday November 3, a bunch of homebrew clubs will be meeting outside at Barley John’s Brewpub in New Brighton. We’ll be encouraging anyone interested to watch ask questions and watch a series of batches being brewed.

Come see Doug discuss all things beer in Minnesota at several lectures through the city, including one at the Summit Brewing Company (be sure to get there early). Free. 7:00 p.m. 910 Montreal Cir., St. Paul, 651.265.7800. Also 5:00 p.m. Sunday at Magers & Quinn Booksellers (3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612.822.4611). Check out calendar for other related readings and talks.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at October 25, 2007 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

A Thorny Pride

Filed under: Readings/Lectures

Dangerous chemicals, eye droppers full of water, intense fear of bugs—these are just a few of the things competitive rose growers deal with on a daily basis. In Otherwise Normal People: Inside the Obsessive and Thorny World of Competitive Rose Gardening master gardener Aurelia Scott describes a click filled with intense competitiveness; a world where gardeners hoard products for fear they will soon be banned from the country due to toxicity, where people attempt to train wild birds to eat beetles off of roses, and where improper pruning techniques could be the end of a season. City Pages took a moment to talk to the author about her experiences with rose enthusiasts in the floral underground.

City Pages: Why are rose competitions so cutthroat? Why not tulips? Peonies?

Aurelia Scott: There aren't a lot of competitions for other flowers-- perhaps part of the reason is that the relationship between roses and people has gone on so much longer than the relationship between people and other flowers. We have been loving and hybridizing other these creatures for thousands of years—a long time.

CP: You also mention that competitive rose gardening is a male-dominated world. Why do you think that is?

AS: I would say that there are several reasons—and this all might sound sexist or traditionalist, but I'm still trying to figure it out. Men have traditionally been associated with working with roses because they're big thorny objects that they had to deal with in the garden. Also, many men are naturally competitive. I think that appeals to men—the chance to combine a competition with a beautiful part of nature, which perhaps is not something that men often get to do in a creative kind of way—they can cut the lawn, but a chance to shape beauty for a little while is not something a lot of people get to do.

CP: Is it female-friendly for the few that do compete?

AS: Oh it is, yes! The women who are into it are very much welcome. Admittedly, it's a specialized sport, so I think men realize that to maintain interest you need to invite everyone. Maybe it heightens competition. There aren't many sports that combine genders.

CP: I was shocked to hear that winners aren't awarded cash prizes! How does this effect competition?

AS: Well, you are truly doing it for the thrill of the win, and knowing that for that show you did something better than anyone else in the room. People are usually honest in acknowledging that it's a combo of skill and luck as well.

CP: Any gardening practices that you found truly shocking?

AS: Probably the oddest—there is one lady I know who buries her roses. You can bend them over and put soil over them—they'll be fine next year. She also travels frequently and will bring roses back in her suitcases! I bring shoes back; she brings roses.

CP: Any extreme gardening practices you have that you'd care to share?

AS: I don't know that you can be too extreme. I have times when I yell at the weeds that I am pulling up. Not loudly—I pull them and say, "See! See! Take this!" When I spot a beetle, I now squish them. Pretty disgusting, yet oddly satisfying!

Aurelia C. Scott reads and chats about roses tonight at Magers & Quinn. Free. 5:00 p.m. 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612.822.4611.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at June 29, 2007 3:03 PM | Comments (0)

 

Mike Jones: He's Saying Something

Filed under: Readings/Lectures

Mike Jones has had many jobs throughout the years—professional masseur, nude model for a local art school, fitness trainer, and body builder. Yet he is best known as the male escort who exposed his client, anti-gay Reverend Ted "Completely Heterosexual" Haggard. Today, Mike Jones can also call himself an author. In I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard's Fall, he details his three-year sexual relationship with the religious heavy-hitter—from the timid early years to the meth-fueled end. Jones also discusses the whirlwind of media that followed, as well as how his personal life and temperament enabled him to excel in his many careers. City Pages took a moment to speak with him.

City Pages: In your memoir, you talk very frankly about your work as a male escort. After years of being private, was it difficult to write on about it in such detail?

Mike Jones: It was very emotional at times rehashing everything publicly—of course the most emotional part was my mother's death, I was very close to her. And what follows after that—mourning and figuring out who Ted Haggard was, that was difficult.

CP: After so much publicity, what do you hope to accomplish by publishing your side of the story?

MJ: The first thing you have to understand is that people just go by headlines—and I've been called quite a few things in the last few months. I felt it was important for people to get a sense of who I am. Also, I think people think I woke up one morning and decided to out Ted Haggard just to get into the spotlight. It wasn't an easy process—it was very difficult. I wanted to explain that. Also, I hope to start a discussion. The problem with religion and churches in America—when dealing with homosexual issues, they don't. They want to get rid of it as quickly as possible, and almost pretend it didn't happen. And I am saying we need to talk about it. This needs to be dealt with. If we don't, there will be many Ted Haggards down the road.

CP: In your memoir, you make it very clear that your motivations for exposing Haggard were political. Did the end results of the election discourage you? Or do you feel you had more of a positive impact than given credit for?

MJ: Here's what's interesting—I wanted to impact the Colorado vote. Did it go the way I wanted to? No, it did not. But ironically enough, I got thousands of emails and notes from around the country, "Mike thanks to you, the Democrats won." So, on one hand, I didn't get what I wanted in Colorado, but on a national level I'm given some credit for effecting the outcome of the elections.

CP: Have you become more politically active since becoming a public figure?

MJ: I don't want to say that I am more politically active. I can say something now and people will listen to me. I have a platform, which I didn't have before.

CP: It's been eight months since the fallout—do you feel that it was worth it? Do you have any regrets?

MJ: People have to understand, I had no idea how that story was going to happen. I thought he would admit to things, ask for forgiveness, and continue on. I probably would have asked for help with PR, I was not prepared at all for the onslaught—the international media, it was overwhelming.

CP: So, what's your next move, career-wise?

MJ: Well, when I exposed Ted Haggard, I exposed myself. I'm not sure what I'll do next. I'm really focused on the book tour now. At some point I probably would like to do some type of activist work—not necessarily in the gay sector, perhaps human rights in general. I'm a huge animal lover—maybe animal rights. I have this huge opportunity to make even more of a difference than before.

CP: I hear you're a Golden Girls fan—do you still watch the show?

MJ: I don't get to watch TV much anymore, but believe me if I am anywhere I do scan the channels looking for the Golden Girls. I never get tired of it! I'm a little bit like the Blanche character. The show has always had a deeper meaning for me.

See Mike Jones read Thursday, June 21 at Magers & Quinn. Free. 7:30 p.m. 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612.822.4611.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at June 20, 2007 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

 

Gordon Parks, 1912-2006

Filed under: Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film

Gordon Parks "once took a ride tailed by the cops with some young L.A. [Black] Panthers with guns in their laps," writes Greg Tate in today's Village Voice obituary. "One asked him if he would still choose the camera over the gun, as he'd declared in his 1967 memoir, A Choice of Weapons. Parks reiterated his belief. Two weeks later the Panther was dead." Parks, who was the first black staff photographer at Life in the '50s and the first ever to direct a studio film (The Learning Tree, in 1969), lived life alongside his subjects, from blacks in the Twin Cities to Malcolm X. Born in Kansas in 1912, the future writer, jazz musician, poet, painter, choreographer, and composer moved to St. Paul as a stunned teenager after the death of his mother, according to his autobiography Voices in the Mirror, and was promptly thrown out into the subzero weather by his brother-in-law. He spent a week homeless, "bouncing between Jim Williams's pool hall during the day and the trolley cars at night," writes Michael Tortorello in a 1998 City Pages appreciation. "One morning, hungry and broke, Parks drew a knife on one of the conductors, and then, in shame, offered to sell it to him in exchange for breakfast"...

Parks played piano in a local brothel, bused tables at the Minneapolis Club, and reluctantly dropped out of St. Paul Central High School before moving to Chicago, New York, and back again. He was working as a porter on the North Coast Limited in the '30s when he became inspired by the great Depression-era documentary photographers, whose pictures he found in train magazines. Parks invested in a used camera, what he would call "his weapon against poverty and racism," and began taking photographs for the Minneapolis Spokesman/St. Paul Recorder. 50 years of work in a half-dozen mediums followed, though he's still best known for directing Shaft--he once told City Pages it was "nowhere near blaxploitation." (Parks's film biographer, Craig Rice, says he applied to film school the day after seeing the movie.)

"I don't make my poetry or my music just for people in Harlem or Kansas or any one place in between," Parks told Rob Nelson in a 1996 City Pages interview. "I think it's about reaching as many kinds of people as you can." He stayed prolific to the end, publishing two books on Atria in 2005: A Hungry Heart : A Memoir and Eyes with Winged Thoughts: Poems and Photographs. He died last Tuesday at age 93 in New York. (Read the New York Times obituary and the one in the Kansas City Star.)

In an interview with the Spokesman-Recorder last year, Parks said: "I let my heart persuade me toward whatever I needed at the moment; that's where I went. That's why I was successful, or why I failed."

(View a video at MNStories.com, a discussion at MNSpeak.com, and more Parks photography here, here, and here.)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at March 13, 2006 5:35 PM | Comments (1)

 

Kenyan hip hop and Afrofuturism, plus a rap battle

Filed under: Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music

For a $25 entry fee, you can compete tonight in Freestyle Fridays at Digital City Music in North Minneapolis, where a grand prize of $1500 awaits the winner (if I have the rules straight). The rap battle is cheap to watch, in any case ($3), and I'll be there with a camera covering it for City Pages. 905 West Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55411-2615, 612.588.2000. Registration is at 5:00 p.m., showtime 7:00 p.m. Click photo for more weekend hip hop as part of Saturday's local celebration of Kenyan independence (including a new Kenyan hip-hop documentary and a night of music at the Blue Nile). Also read more on Saturday's finale of the Soap Factory's essential Afrofuturism event, which kind of ties it all together.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 21, 2005 3:06 PM | Comments (0)

 

Rob likes 'North Country,' Charlize Theron talks

Filed under: Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film

Forget praise from the film's subject herself. My fears about North Country, opening Friday, were put to rest by Minnesota cinema connoisseur Rob Nelson in today's City Pages: "Minnesota-movie vets, including Chris Mulkey (Patti Rocks) and Frances McDormand (you betcha), were offered supporting roles as part of what could easily be seen as a show of respect for our cinematic tradition," writes Nelson. "(Boy-from-the-north-country Bob Dylan was tapped to supply a half-dozen vintage tunes.) And, consciously or not, [director Niki] Caro seems to be channeling the independent spirit of Wildrose (1984), John Hanson and Sandra Schulberg's little-seen classic about the struggles of an Eveleth divorcee (Lisa Eichhorn) working among sexist men at the Iron Range's Mesabi Mine." Read Rob's appreciation of The Heartbreak Kid for background (cover image here), and check out this social action organization spawned by North Country and Good Night, and Good Luck, with accompanying group blog. (See also: a hi-def North Country trailer, Ranger reactions, a real Ranger's preview, and other items in MNSpeak's search engine.) Theron and Caro will participate in a video-conference Q&A after a 7:00 p.m. screening tonight (Wednesday) at the Regal Eagan Cinema 16. A screening at Lagoon Cinema on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., sponsored by and benefiting Minnesota Women in Film and Television, will be followed by a panel discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 19, 2005 5:50 PM | Comments (0)

 

There's a place in France, etc.

Filed under: Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music

King of France singer Steve Salett can be seen in promo spots for MTV's The Real World: Austin playing much the same role as Jonathan Richman did in There's Something About Mary--he has the same utter empathy bordering on goofiness. He also has Frank Black's range, but an octave lower and without the screams, and makes jumpy indie-jazz-country-rock with his old Deformo keyboard collaborator Tom Siler (of Tulip Sweet and Her Trail of Tears) and drummer Michael Azerrad (the noted American punk historian). Tonight's homecoming of sorts at the Quest Ascot Room, opening for Robbers on High Street, celebrates the Echo Records release of The King of France, which you should own (and which I should review!). Buy the old one first if you don't believe me. With headliners Robbers on High Street and openers the Mercy Kiss. All ages. $10. 6:30 p.m. The Quest Ascot Room, 110 Fifth St. N., Minneapolis; 612.338.3383. (P.S. Jonathan Richman is coming soon, too.)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 11, 2005 4:04 PM | Comments (0)