We only had another day in Minneapolis, and Mike and Peter put their heads together to find another only-in-Minneapolis experience for me. And so they chose Dudley Rigg’s Brave New Workshop, a sketch comedy company. Now, if you’re been paying attention, comedians are under siege by the over-offended who will present anything out of context…
Minneapolis in 2 Days: Edina and Surly Brewing
Peter has a childhood friend whom we always see in (and is a reason for going to) the Minneapolis area. He and his wife are life long locals who moved to Edina, Minnesota right around the time they had children. We saw them at their wedding; during our trip across country; and now, each time…
Minneapolis in 2 Days #5: The Electric Fetus and Other Unique Minneapolis Treasures
We had seen the concert we’d come for, but we had another day to spend in Minneapolis, and I wanted to see and experience what Minneapolis had that I would not find anywhere else. It was already clear that it’s a cultural nexus for the upper Midwest. So for breakfast, we went out to Caribou…
Minneapolis in 2 Days #4: The Suburbs and the Upper Mississippi Punks
Nashville audiences have made me soft. No matter the artist, no matter the venue, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of people there are in the audience, they don’t crush or shove one another, except by accident. As the crowd gets bigger and the show more exciting, there is simply a folding forward, and…
Minneapolis in 2 Days #3: Downtown to First Avenue
Peter booked a hotel within walking distance of First Avenue, so we could easily get there by foot, rideshare, or Skyway. We stayed at the Millennium Hotel which had the regular suite of amenities you can expect at a top hotel. As we found out, it also had a sauna. As we were going to…
Minneapolis in 2 Days #2: The Mall of America
The Mall of America near the Minneapolis airport was big news the first time I visited Minneapolis in 1999, but now everyone is used to the fact that the Biggest Mall in the United States exists. How big is it? Well, it’s so big it has an amusement park in the middle — as well…
Minneapolis in 2 Days #1: How Did I Get There?
A few weeks ago, Peter checked his email and found out that one of this favorite bands from his misbegotten youth, The Suburbs, was going to be playing in their home town of Minneapolis on Valentine’s Day. “Wanna go?” he said, and I said, “Sure. ” And since we are in Nashville, Minneapolis is only…
Destroying People and Freedom with the Power of the Perpetually Offended
I’ve been a Southerner now for less than 3 years, short enough to still be considered a West Coast Weirdo to the locals, yet long enough for it to be a complete surprise to me that the Confederate Flag, aka the Stars and Bars, is now the representation of Nazi White Supremacy. I have yet…
A Summer of East Coast Travel (Part 2)
I left my blogging for several months, and returned to find out I’d given my audience a cliff-hanger. As promised in Part 1 of my East Coast travel journey, I had more to talk about for the rest of the summer. It’s a spoiler, but the rest of our road trips that summer were visiting…
Why Are Doctors from Howard Medical So Good?
I’m not the kind of patient who cares where my doctor went to school, but anecdotally, I’ve met doctors who went to Howard Medical School which were exceptional in their so-called bedside manner. My first experience with a Howard doctor was in the emergency room at Valley Medical, the county hospital for Santa Clara county….