Photo by Richard Narum

Charlie Parr might be known first for his music, but a lesser-known talent of local blues-folk star is his intrepid road warrior-esque cooking skills. It's tough, as any touring musician knows, to find fresh produce and quality food when you're driving for hours on end. Eventually, you start convincing yourself that condiments count as vegetables. But Parr, after so many years of driving -- and after finding a need to radically change his diet two years ago -- has solved all that.

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Charlie Parr has 13 new songs to record and a sink to fix
Duluth flood updates: Low, Charlie Parr, & Trampled by Turtles

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Carnage the Executioner, this week's cover story, in his own words
Cover Story: Carnage the Executioner comes into his own
Desdamona on Ill Chemistry, her hip hop collaboration with Carnage

Today rounds off our week of turning the spotlight on Carnage the Executioner, who we profiled with an in-depth feature on the cover of City Pages just a couple days ago. In fact, tonight should be the big pay off for those of you eager to see the local MC and beatbox extraordinaire in action, as he'll be releasing Respect the Name tonight at the Triple Rock -- just a few hours after he also makes an appearance opening for Atmosphere (with birthday boy Slug) over at the Cabooze. Whew!

So on that note, this morning we'll let Carnage's music do most the talking with a collection of his three best music videos. As a bonus, we'll throw in a few relevant passages from the cover story to help give a little extra context. And don't forget to check out the full show details for tonight below the break.
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Julian Murray

See Also:
Carnage the Executioner, this week's cover story, in his own words
Cover Story: Carnage the Executioner comes into his own
Slideshow: Carnage the Executioner

Yesterday's cover story profiling local rapper and beatboxer Carnage the Executioner delved deeply into his past, as well as his career as a musician. But, while its focus was primarily on his work as a solo artist, Carnage keeps himself busy with a variety of different projects. Most notably there's Saltee, an instrumental, improv-based trio, and Ill Chemistry, a hip-hop duo with Desdamona, where Carnage creates all of the instrumentation with his beatboxing.

In fact, Desdamona herself has a story that could probably fill its own feature story. She's been active player in Minnesota hip hop for about as long as Carnage -- her own talents and contributions similarly under-appreciated even if respected by her fellow MCs -- while also spending the last ten years working in schools, such as with the poetry and beatboxing class she and Carnage teach together. Below the break, Gimme Noise speaks with her about her work with Carnage, both onstage and in the classroom.
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Illustration by Ben Voldman

See Also:
Cover Story: Carnage the Executioner comes into his own
Slideshow: Carnage the Executioner
Carnage's comic-laced "Respect the Name" video debuts, plus an interview with the star

First thing's first: If you haven't already seen it, make sure to check out the story on the cover of this week's City Pages, an-depth profile of local rapper and beatboxer, Carnage the Executioner. Not only is he a greatly-overlooked talent in these parts, he's also led a remarkable life, which he opened up to us about for this story.

Ahead of Friday's release show for his best album to date, Respect the Name, we had a lot of conversations. Once you've read the profile, there's plenty more where it came from. So, below the break, check out some of the best passages -- on rapping, his family life, and social work.
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Photography by Tony Nelson

​By now you've hopefully already seen our cover story on Polica in today's City Pages. You may also have seen Gimme Noise's slideshow and our review of last night's album release show at First Ave. But those aren't the only goodies we have for you.

Below the break, check out excerpts from my conversations with Channy Leneagh, Drew Christopherson, and Ryan Olson that didn't make it into print, but which help shed further light on Polica's music and its members.

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​"How many famous women drummers do you know?" Hit So Hard: The Life and Near-Death of Patty Schemel is a no-punches-pulled portrait of the life and times of hard-hitting drummer Patty Schemel. The film tells a raw, intimate story about openly gay Schemel, and provides an up-close look at her struggles with being different, addiction, the deaths of her close friends, her near-devastating descent into drugs after a major betrayal, and ultimately her journey back to a clean, new life. 
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Photo by Shawn Brackbill

In the print edition of this week's City Pages, we have an interview with Matador signee and Philadelphia indie rocker Kurt Vile, who is coming to the Varsity Theater next Monday with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. What follows is the extended transcript of Ian Power's interview with Vile; you can read the version of this article from this week's paper here.More »

Photo by Emily Roberts

​Over here at Gimme Noise, we're pretty excited about Tommy Stinson's return to First Ave this Friday--and not just because we had the chance to talk to him about it in the print version of today's City Pages. Why all the excitement then? Because it gives us an excuse to kill some time on YouTube, duh!

Check out some of our favorite clips below the break.

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​In anticipation of tonight's sold-out Cars gig at First Avenue -- the band's first time performing at the club since forming in 1978, parting ways in 1988, and regrouping last year -- we caught up with all four surviving members of the band for an interview. That article is featured on the cover of the paper this week, which also reprises our very first cover story in the history of City Pages, back when we were a music magazine known as Sweet Potato.

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​Impaler want to wish you a scary Christmas, and we thought as a gift we'd include some vintage photographs and the rest of the interview with lead vocalist Bill Lindsey as he talks about his inspiration, holiday favorites, and family life and getting banned from Best Buy.

(Read my interview with Bill from this week's print edition of City Pages here.)

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