When Pink Mink met Scott Seekins

Photos by Robyn Lewis

​Anyone who has caught one of Pink Mink's incendiary live shows has likely heard their tune "Seeking Scott Seekins," an ode to one of Minneapolis's most notorious and recognizable artists. It wasn't until Tuesday night at our "4 Nights in Loring" afterparty at Nick and Eddie, though, that Pink Mink frontwomen Arzu Gokcen and Christy Hunt met Seekins face-to-face.

"I was worried that he thought we were making fun of him," said Hunt, whose lyrics for the song weave a chorus of "Have you seen him?" with nonsensical rhyme schemes like "Beatiful mistake/dandelion earthquake/bow tie on a snowflake/heavy metal cupcake."

"We write what we know," Hunt said, "and he's a part of our world. My friends and I text each other updates when we see him, and when you're at a party it's like playing Where's Waldo?"

Hunt approached Seekins before her band's set and told him as much, then headed to the stage and joined forces with Gokcen to play one of their most electric and riveting sets yet. About halfway through their performance, with the whole room riding high on an instrumental jam that ended with both women wailing away on their knees in front of the crowd, Hunt announced that they were going to play their tribute to the local artist.

At once, everyone searched for Seekins, who was standing halfway back in the crowd. He stood proudly on a chair in the middle of the room and beamed as Hunt and Gokcen sang right to him, then stuck around long enough after the set to have his picture taken with the band. It was one of those hyper-local, proud-to-be-a-Minneapolitan moments, and it couldn't have been a more fitting end to another summer night spent celebrating the art being made right here, right now.

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Photos by Robyn Lewis

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Seeking Scott Seekins
By Pink Mink

Have you seen him?
Seeking Scott Seekins
A lightouse Beacon
He gets around

Beautiful mistake
A drugstore suitcase
bow tie on a snowflake
heavy metal cupcake
Oh slap your handshake
Funeral or Birthday
He'll sell you art
He'll sell you art

Exciting! A sighting!
Call me if you see him.
***

Zipper or button
Chopped liver mutton
A bourbon lightouse
Apollo Beacon
Your shattered nightgown
fully loaded bike town

He gets around
He gets around

Exciting! A sighting!
Call me if you see him
***

Beatiful mistake
dandelion earthquake
bow tie on a snowflake
heavy metal cupcake
Have you seen him?
Seeking Scott Seekins




Full disclosure: I booked this show as part of our "4 Nights in Loring" afterparty series at Nick and Eddie this month, which happens again next Tuesday night with the Goondas.