Category Archives: Twin Cities

City Pages’ Best of the Twin Cities 2008

The City Pages recently released their Best of the Twin Cities list for 2008. I’m always eager to see who made the cut, but as I get into it I’m usually disappointed. It seems like you have to be way too hip to get all the jokes and references and be way too social (and rich) to actually experience all the best of’s.

Though they do offer a Google map, which is pretty cool (and lets you visually see the hipness centered around Minneapolis).

Spending a Week at the Mall of America

Matt Snyders spent an entire week at the Mall of America and lived to tell about it in a City Pages article. From open to close, Snyders was there. He even spent the night once.

It only fuels my obsession with local haunts like the Mall of America. The place is just kind of weird. Especially when you hear odd details, like the fact that the mall has no heat. The skylight over the amusement park (currently dubbed Nickelodeon Universe) and the body heat of shoppers and employees keeps the place warm. So warm that they run the air conditioning year round. Yes, the Mall of America runs the air conditioning in January when it’s below zero outside.

I told you it was weird.

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t show much behind-the-scenes action. Snyders’ overnight in the mall was a legit ‘sleep with the sharks’ at Underwater Adventure. I was hoping for a hide-in-the-bathroom, avoid-security-guards-all-night adventure (kind of like Career Opportunities, only not really). It’d at least be cool to see what’s in the basement.

89.3 The Current Playing More Repeats

OK, enough politics.

Apparently my favorite radio station, 89.3 FM The Current—which extols listeners to “expand their playlist”—is shrinking their playlist according to City Pages. With falling ratings songs are getting played more often. In March 2007 one song was played 17 times in one week, while in late 2005 a single song was never played more than two or three times.

What City Pages doesn’t report is how often other stations repeat songs. Cities 97 has been repeating the same songs for as long as I’ve listened, which is close to 10 years. When I do happen to listen I’ll hear songs they over-played a decade ago, and they’re still doing it. (I will say that the Current totally overplayed “Knights” by Minus the Bear a few months back. The song was OK,  but now I hate it.)

It’s a little discouraging to see more repetition on the Current, but it’s not yet worth jumping ship. I hope the Current figures out what they’re doing. I love their eclectic mix of music. I’ve discovered more new bands that way (and went on to buy their CDs/downloads).

Busy Week at Start Seeing Art

Salon Stella Detail..Last week I was all excited to announce that Start Seeing Art had mapped 100 works of public art across the Twin Cities (if ‘across’ means primarily in St. Paul). But in the past week alone we’ve added 25 more works of art. Along the way we’ve identified some previously unknown artwork, explored local history and started branching out into Minneapolis (including work by John Grider, one of City Pages 2007 Artists of the Year).

Continue reading Busy Week at Start Seeing Art

Start Seeing Art Hits 100

St. Paul Sculptural Complex by George SugarmanMy little side project, Start Seeing Art–which maps and identifies public art in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis–hit 100 yesterday. The site has now mapped 100 pieces of public artwork.

It’s been a fun little project. I’ve really enjoyed discovering local art and finding some of our own local artists. Folks like Alvin Carter, Seitu Jones, Craig David, Ta-coumba Aiken, Marilyn Lindstrom and others–their work is all over the Twin Cities. I think Craig David pretty much owns St. Paul’s West Side (the West Side Citizen’s Organization named him “West Sider of the Year”). I’ve mapped nine of his works, seven of which are on the West Side. And I know of a few others I haven’t covered yet.

It’s also painfully clear that I have a long way to go. I’ve focused on St. Paul because it’s closer and I know it better, but I’ve barely scratched the surface of public art in Minneapolis. And they’ve probably got a lot more public art than St. Paul.

Continue reading Start Seeing Art Hits 100

Monkey Outta Nowhere Launches Local Art Site

About a week ago Monkey Outta Nowhere launched its first independent project, a local art site called Start Seeing Art. The site is all about finding and identifying public art in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, so it can be enjoyed and appreciated.

Too often I’ve either not known a work of art existed in my neighborhood and missed out on it entirely, or I’ve known about the work but I can’t find any information about the artist or the name of the work. So the site is an attempt to find that local artwork, identify it and chart it using a Google Maps mashup so others can more easily find and enjoy it. You can look at the map and see all the works of art across the Twin Cities.

So far Start Seeing Art is in the very early phases (only 11 pieces of art so far) and isn’t much to look at. I’m focusing on content and the technical side before I worry too much about design. In general, I’m trying to follow 37Signal’s Getting Real approach and building Start Seeing Art quickly and cheaply. I’d rather get the content out there and get it working now, even if it doesn’t look so hot, rather than wait six months for a beautiful backend system that costs thousands of dollars (which I don’t have).

We’ll see where it goes and if it turns into a self-supporting media empire. If you know of anyone interested in advertising or sponsorship, please contact me.

Artsy Twin Cities Photo Group on Flickr

Going upI gave in and started the Artsy Twin Cities photo group on Flickr today, a group for public art in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area. I say ‘gave in’ because I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while and finally decided to just do it today. I’ve been surprised that nobody had started a group like this before (there’s a group graffiti and groups for local art museums, but nothing for art across the Twin Cities, and specifically public art).

Never endingThere’s just so much great public art in the Twin Cities and it’s so easy to completely ignore it. It’s also not always easy to find out what each piece is called and who the artist is. Sometimes you can find out fairly easily online, but not always. I’m hopeful that the group will help people stop and enjoy art.

Add this to my Como Park group and I’ve got a little local theme going. We’ll see how long I last before launching my Twin Cities Architecture group (OK, I lasted about five hours. But I blame the St. Paul Real Estate blog.)