Murder By Death

If you don't know Murder By Death you need to check them out. They are so great. I love them so much! This last Thursday I got to seem them live for the 3rd time. Love love love them!!!!

Cheers!

Beer Fest!

What is Beer Fest you ask? It is a Fest of Beer. In the best sense. This past weekend up near the Mall of America (the parking lot to be exact...super classy!) my friends hit up the second annual Twin Cities Beer Fest. Your ticket gets you in and you are presented with a small cup which you then take up to the different booths and you get a little 2oz sample of beer! There were all kinds of beer to try so most tastes had plenty to try. Ciders are my favorite! There was also music, giant jenga, bean bags, fake tattoos and a plethora of fake mustaches! I was a last minute addition to the group and I am really glad I went!

 Trouble makers...I tell ya!

I also helped out with the 'days of yesteryear' at the History Center that morning...but since I had to run off to beer fest I didn't get any good pictures!

Have you been to a beer, wine, or other tasting? What do you recommend?

A Dessa Birthday

Weekday birthdays are always a little tricky. You want to do something fun but yet you still have to be on the responsible side of things. What to do? Well sometimes there is no good answer and then again sometimes things just fall into place. That is what happened this year for my good friend Krista's birthday. The day fell on a Thursday and in our town they have "Thursdays on First", a street fair with food and homemade vendors that fill 1st Street. They also have free music and it just so happened that Dessa was scheduled to perform on Krista's Birthday!!! Perfection. We would have gone anyway because we both love Dessa so much but it was just that much more awesome. The day of I lost my camera (and found it again this morning!) so I didn't get any pictures but I thought I would share this sweet new video from Doomtree (the hiphop collective that Dessa is a part of).

Enjoy!!

Art In Bloom

This last weekend a small group of us headed up to the cities to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for their annual exhibit 'Art in Bloom'. Basically local artists/ floral shops create floral arrangements inspired by works of art and then they are displayed right next to the art. There were well over 100 arrangements throughout the museum and it made for a lovely day. I love museums so much. It was a bit busier than I like but it was a Saturday and the event was free. Yay art! Since the floral pieces were all over the museum the entire collection was available for our perusal. Some of the arrangements were really literal interpretations and others just looked like a vase of flowers next to art.

 I got distracted by these amazing necklaces! The one below is made of super fine braids of human hair. Woah.

A lovely day. Finally got my culture quota filled.

Cheers!

The Lion King

I had not been to the theater in quite a long time but last night that pattern was broken with a trip to the Twin Cities to see 'The Lion King'. I was excited about this trip for awhile but I think I forgot how amazing it was supposed to be because when the circle of life started up and those AMAZING costumed/puppeted animals came out on stage I started to tear up. Yep. I cried at the costume design. It was just so perfect. Plus that is totally my kind of theater, spectacle. I like a big show.

 

This is just an example of the costumes. My favorites were the giraffes. 

Since I can't help myself I had to dress with a bit of theme. 

I kept it fairly simple with these earrings. Aren't they darling? They remind me of vintage animal jewelry. I snagged them for $3 about a month ago and waited to debut them until last night. My friends were mostly lucky that I decided not to wear my full length faux-leopard coat.   : )

Minnesota FAIL.

For any of you that have read this blog at all it is pretty obvious that I am a happy and proud resident of Minnesota...most of the time. If you haven't heard Minnesota is facing a government shutdown. Shut. Down. When I heard those words for the first time I said, "Shut the front door!" or something more colorful. Yep apparently we suck at life so much that we can't even have the state open for business at this point. Everyone is pointing fingers as to who's fault this is but the clear truth is EVERYONE IS TO BLAME FOR THIS. If you were not part of the solution you are part of the problem. I give props to Governor Dayton for sticking to his points but something needed to be worked out! Let us just hope that they figure something out soon because this shutdown is of course hitting the 'little guys' the hardest.

SOUNDSET 2011

I have FINALLY been to Soundset! This is the hip-hop festival to go to if you are from the Midwest or anywhere really. Held outside rain or shine every year in Shakopee, MN it is a day of great hip hop and FUN. Now I will say that my friend and I should have done things differently. Either you want to get your tickets early and be a VIP or you want to buy a physical ticket because Will Call was F*ING STUPID! Doors opened at 11am. We got there at 11:20ish and we stood in line for OVER AN HOUR. That was super frustrating. You would think after 3 years of this they would have a better system of getting people in the door. Because of that we missed a few of the opening acts that I sort of wanted to see. But for anyone who is even slightly a Hip Hop enthusiast there is plenty to do. Food and drink are expensive and you are not allowed to bring any in so bring plenty of cash but they have a fairly good variety and it is all part of the festival experience right? There are two stages, a DJ/B-boy tent, car show, merch tents, meet and greets with artists, skateboarding, and graffiti artists. People watching might be one of the best parts though. Special note to future goers with asthma- bring your inhaler- even though it was outside the amount of smoke (cigarette and otherwise...) was super thick and irritating.

DJ Espada

B-Boy

Pint sized B-Boy! So cute

Doomtree on the main stage

Sims and P.O.S of Doomtree

Doomtree

Brother Ali

Atmosphere

Slug of Atmosphere

End of the night. Atmosphere closed the show

Top 5 things at Soundset 2011: (Besides the amazing music and in no particular order)
-Guy in Ghostbusters jumpsuit
-Guy dancing in crowd saying "I think I am in Narnia"
-Pint-sized B-Boy
-Random guy grabbing my arm to pull me through the crowd before his girl friend started shouting "WRONG GIRL!!" Guy was embarrassed but sweet.
-Stupid girls being annoying and SHOVING their way through the crowd getting their little bikini top strings pulled as they pushed through (by a girl who was sick of their shit. Haha. )


Cute video telling who is going to be at Sounset. I think the little cartoon characters would make great plushies!


Video from the day. You can see more on the Rhymesayers youtube chanel

Warm and Fuzzy- A Hip Hop Love Story

 

I am lucky to live in a state with so much amazing, home-grown hip hop. This weekend I was also lucky to see Brother Ali in concert. Not only is this guy mad talented he is also one of the nicest, coolest guys ever. Before the show he was hanging out in the back, completely chill, signing t-shirts and taking pictures with fans. BEFORE THE SHOW! Who does that! So cool.

Whereas so much rap/hip hop is this hateful spew about violence, drugs, being rich, and degrading women, Brother Ali's music is about the positive things in life. Among other things he talks about being thankful for what you have. That is refreshing. His live performance is filled with this sense of community and what he called 'togetherness'.  He talked about the government and he talked about love. He talked a lot about loving yourself. I have a soft spot for people who talk about this especially  guys, since you don't hear it from them as often. Speaking directly to the ladies Brother Ali said in fairly simple terms "You may not have porno tits but, be honest ladies, does your man have a porno dick?" It seems crude as I write it here but as he was saying this and many other things his mixture of eloquence and frankness struck a cord. It was a concert/therapy session. I felt so much better after the show!

I will be completely honest. As there was much talk of togetherness and peace I did want to punch a couple of audience members in the face. WHY DOES THERE ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SOME DRUNK A**HOLE AT CONCERTS THAT I WANT TO PUNCH IN THE FACE?!?!?! Drunk a**holes stay home. Dance, head bob, jump around....do what you gotta do to have fun at a concert but DONT push through the crowd to the front because you were too busy getting drunk to get a good spot and really just  DONT wave your beer bottle, clutch purse, hat around in the air in a way that is going to HIT ME or you might just get HIT IN THE FACE. Can't we all just get along?

*note to self: need camera that takes good low-light pictures. any suggestions?

Welcome to MN Tour

Atmosphere came to Rochester. That's right folks this town just got SO MUCH COOLER. Though let's be honest, it doesn't take much. My friend and I put on our cutest hipster outfits and headed downtown for the musical event of the season. Atmosphere along with Prof, DJ Abilities, and Los Nativos sold out the show and though there were quite a few little young'ins there it was a good time. (All of them are on Rhymesayers - check them out!)

DJ Abilities started it off (he is kind of amazing) and I just wish there were somewhere in this podunk town that had DJ nights like that because I would go out dancing all the time. He really revved up the crowd and you could tell that everyone was feeling it.



Los Nativos started a little shaky but they found their footing and put on a good set. I was excited though that they then brought DJ Abilities back out for another short set. It was just so good.

Next was Prof, a young hip-hop artist from the cities. I will be completely honest with you I had never even heart of the guy before the concert and let me just declare my loyalty to him now. He is super talented, had great energy and also had a great 'lightness' to his set. Where as I think a lot of hip-hop stars have a bit of a serious (or 'trying to be serious') tone, Prof just seemed like the kind of guy who loves what he does and would be really fun to hang out with. PLUS he handed out free cds after the show. That always wins major cool points with me because it worked, I have now told everyone I know about him. He also signed cds and took pictures with fans after the show.

Prof

 This video is pretty cool. He wears a sweater vest, there are semi-creepy puppets, a fun new dance to learn,  and it has one of the best lines ever "I'm a clever motherf*er call me Sherlock Holmes."



But then of course they sent out the big guns. Atmosphere rocked. Nothing compares to the feeling of being in a room with hundreds of other people all bouncing and fist pumping in unison. There is nothing like it! They did a bunch of old stuff which was sweet and also some new stuff. My favorite part though was when they brought out Prof and Los Nativos to perform the song 'MN Nice' that they wrote just for the tour. YES! Sadly Slug kept talking about how he is all married and stuff now. I am happy for him (or whatever) but I am going to continue to have my little crush on him.

Like this post? Check out the article about Midwest Hip-Hop on Midwasted.com