November 2005

« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 »

Minneapolis baby, New Orleans baby

Email from Dara Moskowitz (October 26):

Hi Everybody!
I just got off the phone with Steph Curtis--she is doing great! As is, I hear, Michael. They had a little baby girl, as yet unnamed, at 9 pm last night. She weighed six pounds, five ounces, has dark hair and dark eyes, came out and ate right away, after which Michael gave her her first bath.

They're at St. Joe's in St. Paul, room 204. So exciting! Hooray!

xoxo
-Dara

Email from Michael (October 27):

Friends--

Here's a picture of young Beatrix Geneva Tortorello, taken a few hours after her birth on Tuesday night.

Hope you are all well and in good spirits. G. is feeling good and (no less important) looking good.

take care,
-M

Email from Katy (November 17):

Peter:

Since you've lived in New Orleans, I thought you'd appreciate this photo. Merv recruited the entire Treme Brass Band--they all are living here in Phoenix right now. So check this out--the guy on the left is Frederick Sheppard, who's played sax with Ray Charles and Otis Redding and has worked with Fats Domino since the 1970s. On the right is trombonist Eddieboh Paris, whose grandfather was the famous tap dancer Pork Chop. You already know the little guy.

Hope all is well. It's lovely to have all these musicians here--makes me feel less homesick for New Orleans.

xxx,
k.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 17, 2005 1:52 PM | Comments (1)

 

Minnetonka High School students play DJ Shadow

I missed this incredible video of the Minnetonka High School percussion ensemble playing songs from DJ Shadow's 1996 instrumental hip-hop classic Endtroducing (the footage made the internet rounds in September). With some amazing mimicry of the sampled drum breaks, the students play "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt" (used to haunting effect in Dark Days) followed by "Changeling." I would have been so much more into jazz ensemble if we'd played songs like this when I was in high school. Beautiful.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 16, 2005 6:04 PM | Comments (1)

 

Young Jeezy fans at Myth last Wednesday

I went to Myth in Maplewood last week to see Contac (below) and his friend Sandman open for Young Jeezy. The live photos mostly didn't turn out, but the crowd shots did. Look for more on Contac soon.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 14, 2005 2:50 PM | Comments (1)

 

Chuck D meets Slug

Slug (of Atmosphere) keeps his cool with Chuck D (of Public Enemy) at the SXSW festival in 2000, photographed by Tony Nelson for this old article. I wrote about PE last week and Atmosphere this week with about as much poise as Slug shows there.

Ant and Slug in 2005 photographed by Dan Monick, from today's article. Find out more about Atmosphere and Minneapolis hip hop here. See more Minnesota hip-hop links here.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 9, 2005 1:53 PM | Comments (6)

 

I'm 36 today

I'm going to go vote, listen to the Clash, make New Orleans benefit plans, and watch my favorite Scorsese picture, American Boy (1978), at my favorite film festival, Get Real, with my favorite person. I'll also make calls on a hip-hop story I care about, for a job I'm lucky to have, and read a book about America (for a review), grab a po' boy at that new Creole/Cajun place on Hennepin, fix a window, call my friends and family, clean the place, and eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 8, 2005 1:05 PM | Comments (1)

 

Vote on Tuesday, Minnesota

Democracy: Practice makes perfect. Find your Minnesota polling place at Pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us. Then use Mapquest.com for driving directions or Metrotransit.org for Twin Cities bus schedules and maps. For ballots and candidates, go to the Star Tribune's online voter guide, Startribune.com/politics and type in your zip code. Elections are Tuesday, November 8, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Scan the League of Pissed-Off Voters' endorsements, the City of Minneapolis election center, and St. Paul's website. Otherwise, here are a bunch of links for background: Minneapolis Mayoral Mayhem (MNSpeak 8/26/05), Randy Kelly R.I.P.? Can the St. Paul mayor rebound from an awful primary showing? (City Pages 10/12/05), White Fight: How did the majority-minority Eighth Ward end up with two white candidates? (City Pages 10/12/05), Black on Black Grime: The Natalie Johnson Lee/Don Samuels race for city council is one of the nastiest campaigns in local memory (City Pages 10/26/05), The Diva of Downtown: With her gaudy campaign chest and indelicate manners, Lisa Goodman acts like she runs City Hall. Maybe she does. (City Pages 10/26/05), Hardball politics in St. Paul (Blotter 10/26/05), Park and Wreck: This election season, the dysfunctional Minneapolis Park Board is ripe for reform (City Pages 11/2/05), Peter McLaughlin: I'm running because we must do better (Star Tribune 11/3/05), St. Paul mayoral money map (Pioneer Press 10/23/05). Don't ask me for endorsements, I live in Golden Valley, son.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 7, 2005 5:39 PM | Comments (0)

 

Will Maria Isa be St. Paul's reggaeton breakout?

Since flooring crowds at the Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop this summer (larger photo here), St. Paul teenager Maria Isa (myspace) has been doing some dream-like social climbing. "Her manager has strong connections to some of the most popular reggaeton artists in Puerto Rico," reports Tom Horgen in the Star Tribune, "most notably Tego Calderon, the genre's most outspoken political figure... In August, Isa hung out with Calderon while he was in Minneapolis to meet with executives from his new label, Atlantic Records, and with Target Corp. She got the chance to perform for her idol and get feedback from someone whom many consider the genre's best." Shoot, color me scooped. (That beautiful photo linking the story, by the way, is by Marlin Levison.) The story goes on to say that Felipe Cuauhtli of Los Nativos and Rhymesayers is preparing Isa for a big push in 2006, including a debut album. (Read more about reggaeton here in City Pages and here in the Village Voice, check out the Wednesday reggaeton night at Euphoria, and look for more Minneapolis shows at El Nuevo Rodeo.)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 4, 2005 10:34 PM | Comments (4)

 

Need a cool place to live?

Really nice two-bedroom duplex available in a beautiful, quiet, and convenient location (8 minutes by car from downtown Minneapolis doing the 30 mph limit down Glenwood, in Golden Valley). Spanish architecture, hardwood floors, fireplace, a patio you'll split with us, your only immediate neighbors, garage for one car, central air and heat, trees all around, front and back yard, free snowplowing of the gravel driveway, lawnmowing, free laundry machines, and free garbage (though you have to haul it to the neighboring apartment building)... UPDATE: I'm happy to report that the place has been filled as of Dec. 1...

Here's the story: A month ago we found out our neighbors had cleared out of our next-door duplex rental (we're not the landlords), and Toasty and I have been trying to find a friendly couple (or single) ever since. There's still no "for rent" sign in front, so I imagine it hasn't been looked at. My only old-man preference is to find somebody who doesn't host huge parties more than a few times a year, and who's cool with not blasting the megabass (on the TV or stereo) through the wall unless we're gone. (We work 9-5, basically.)

Otherwise, it's a thick wall, and we never had any complaints for (or from) our old neighbors, who so far as I could tell watched TV every night until 10. (Good architecture.) We're planning a Christmas party ourselves this year, too, so we'll give you some advance notice.

We pay $900 for our place plus utilities, and I imagine the other one would be around that (it's slightly bigger, I hear). The basement is damp (though not wet), and parts of the house are crumbling, and I'm busy hauling a lot of wood junk from the back yard, but the owners fix and replace things, and the apartment itself looks new and fine. We're near Theodore Wirth Beach and park, bike trails, deer, fly fishing. There's an infrequent bus, too, though the city just took out the shelter. I really love living there, and I bet somebody else would, too.

Feel free to forward this to friends who can call or email me for details, address, etc: 612.372.3764. I especially recommend the location to Africans, as there are a lot in the neighborhood.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 3, 2005 3:34 PM | Comments (0)

 

Bring more noise, danger, and New Orleans

Matos reviews DangerDoom today: "If they'd really wanted to go for the crossover ring they could have packaged [the CD] with an economy-sized bag of Cheetos and the cell number of a reliable dealer." Speaking of mercenary, Matos and I earned an extra check each this week by freelancing DangerDoom reviews to each other's newspapers. (More links below.) Which is perfectly ethical, by the way, as we did them on our own time. (If I sound like I'm writing for the benefit of higher-ups checking out my blog, I am. And no, I'm not stoned. I'm not eating Cheatos, either.)

I also review Public Enemy in today's City Pages. Elsewhere, Wired amplifies my line about PE's internet future (official PE site here). Read more about Houston's Legendary K.O., who cut the other great Katrina track mentioned in my piece. (The CP article will have links tomorrow.) And check out Chuck D's moving Oct. 3 editorial on New Orleans:

It should be a requirement for artists to just know that somehow their debt is rooted there well before Cash Money, Juvie & No Limit.

Longhair was Professin long before brother Griff, X, or the 'Large. The Meters will forever be funky...

Sadly these names don't ring bells to the MTV-BET generation, but to the brass of record companies, publishers, government, and the Viacommed heads they remain as folklore hall of famers. It should ring the same for all.

Culture to Go roundup: 'Purple Rain' tonight, 'Sign O' the Times' Saturday (on the big screen!), Spin and Vibe for sale (comments?), 'Double Black Album' guy cuts local rap who's-who (show on Saturday), Umbrella Bed keep local ska hopping (shows this weekend), The death of alternative media, part two (Punk Planet distro woes), Culture to Go: Fashion is the Fashion (show tonight!), Freestyle Fridays at Digital City (ongoing rap battles), What would Wellstone do? (observe the anniversary of his death?), Blue Nile fun (my Viewmaster photo)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 2, 2005 6:27 PM | Comments (0)

 

« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 »