July 31, 2006

Corky on KARE-11

Words cannot adequately describe what you are about to see. Here's Chris Burke (aka "Corky" from TV's "Life Goes On") singing a song of celebration in the KARE-11 studios. This will be burned into your brain for the rest of your day. You're welcome!

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:25 AM | Comments (9)

July 29, 2006

Blogs on Almanac

FROM THE 7/28/06 EPISODE OF ALMANAC ON TPT:

It's a Bloggers World
How have blogs changed Minnesota's political world? We here from two bloggers who talk about their craft. Michael Brodkorb and Chuck Olsen are our guests.

RELATED LINKS:
Minnesota Demcorats Exposed thread
MNspeak thread
Local political blogger shootout

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 07:24 PM | Comments (10)

July 28, 2006

Review: Crema Café

It's been far too long since our last amateur restaurant review [The Bad Waitress, Dec. '05]. On a hot summer day after the Art Car Parade, we were in the mood for some quality ice cream. We ended up savoring some of the best homemade ice cream available anywhere: Sonny's ice cream at the Crema Café.

But wait! We also had some delicious, creamy portabella mushroom soup ($3.50/cup with toast) and Lori sipped a Cafe Crema, which is a mocha dollopped with ice cream. They also have yummy panini sandwiches. Lori recently returned for lunch and raved about their dill havarti grilled cheese, not to mention the green tea ice cream.

All in all, the food and cozy Euro-style environs make Crema Cafe one of our very favorite new places for lunch, coffee or dessert. We give it 10 thumbs-up.

MUSIC: William Redmond, "In the Good Old Summer Time" (1902)

RELATED LINKS:
City Pages: The Crema Crop is an excellent read about the history of Crema Café

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:21 AM | Comments (3)

July 27, 2006

Tapes 'N Tapes

I keep hearing about these boys around town, these Tapes 'N Tapes. Why, they were even on the David Letter-man program this week. Either my memory or my DVR failed me, but Girl Friday has video of that performance as seen at the Hexagon bar. Meanwhile, here's a nice acoustic performance of "Insistor" from the SXSW festival.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:11 AM | Comments (3)

July 26, 2006

Donkey Baseball

This is no joke, people. Welcome to rural Minnesota, home of milking contests and real live donkey baseball!

Duane Kuss writes:

Have you ever heard of Donkey Baseball before? There's a pitcher and a batter just like in the big leagues... but that's about as far as the normal game goes. Imagine playing a baseball game where in order to make your way around the bases you'd have to be riding a donkey. Imagine being in the outfield and finding the only way you can pass the ball from one player to another is by siting or riding a donkey. Then add to all this the personality of each of the donkeys and you have some of the most hilarious and funny video footage you have ever watched.

CONTRIBUTOR: Duane Kuss, DigElogROCORI

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:35 AM | Comments (8)

July 25, 2006

A Vlogger Darkly

Here's a strange Vloggercon journey, through the eyes of Starfire. What a trip.

MUSIC: Alan Sparhawk from "Solo Guitar" on Silber Records

SITE NOTE: New spam-blocking measures are in place. Please email me if you have any problems accessing the site. Thanks!

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:07 AM | Comments (9)

July 24, 2006

Art Car Parade

Monkeys, Jesus, toilet seats, skulls, karma, compassion, and humor... on wheels! Here's a glimpse of the Art Car Parade in Uptown, Minneapolis on July 22, 2006. Also check out this YouTube video from the parade complete with Savage Aural Hotbed rocking the joint atop their industrial van.

MUSIC: Terry Eason, "Tricerabeth" from Instrumentals

RELATED LINKS:
Art Cars! The Minnesota Art Car Parade, presented by Intermedia Arts

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 06:35 AM | Comments (5)

July 21, 2006

Musicapolis

Last year's wildly successful Musicapolis exhibit captured 40 years of music photography in the Twin Cities. Featured local musicians/bands included Bob Dylan, The Suburbs, the Replacements, the Suicide Commandos, Hüsker Dü, Semisonic, Babes in Toyland, and – of course – Prince.

There was one prominent photographer missing from that exhibit: Dan Corrigan. Not to worry. The Minnesota Center for Photography brings us the sequel to Musicapolis, focusing exclusively on Dan Corrigan's 26 years of Twin Cities music photography. The exhibit opens Saturday, July 22 with a bunch of bands hand-picked by Dan.

RELATED LINK: Suicide Commandos page on Twin/Tone, including the video for "Burn It Down."

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 06:04 AM | Comments (3)

July 20, 2006

Mooki's New Toy

Last week, our kitten Mooki turned one year old. We got him a new leopardy scratching post to celebrate. Hooray!

We have a high tolerance for animal videos here on Minnesota Stories, so if you have any video, drop a note to story@mnstories.com. Be sure to check out Dan and Jen's Animal Friends for the best Minnesota wacky animal video action.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:07 AM | Comments (7)

July 19, 2006

The Minnesota Rap

Ladies and gentlemen, the whitest rap you will ever hear.

SOURCE: Christine on YouTube

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 12:47 AM | Comments (3)

July 18, 2006

The Opposite of a Blizzard.

Did anybody go to Green Man 2006 in Duluth? Starfire was there and says it was really hot and really windy. The 2nd stage collapsed from all the wind - here is the aftermath. Music by Ol' Yeller.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 01:07 AM | Comments (1)

July 17, 2006

Team Milking Contest

Hello eager vlog-beavers! Thanks for being patient with only 2 videos last week. We're back and ready to kick it Minnesota style with a whole lotta milk squirting into a bucket.

This is an event that took place at ROCK-FEST last weekend in Rockville, MN. Four teams compete to see who can get the most milk out of Molly the cow in 30 seconds. This makes for some great fun and you'll be surprised how much milk one team got in the bucket in just 30 seconds.

CONTRIBUTOR: Duane Kuss, DigElogROCORI

UNRELATED LINK: Homegrown Film is a great interview from mnartists.org with local film-types and our friends at Chasing Windmills.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:05 AM | Comments (3)

July 11, 2006

En Route to Korea

Minnesota Stories is leaving Minnesota today! Don't worry, we'll be back with native videos soon enough.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 05:03 PM | Comments (17)

July 10, 2006

Midwest Holiday

3 words: College students fishing. Now, watch this hilarious video. It will defy whatever images those 3 words conjure. Maybe it's because they're Carleton students. Or just a brilliant slice of reality and personality.

CONTRIBUTOR: Karina Hill, who is in fact a college graduate and environmental action person.

PLEASE NOTE: The guy who posts these here videos is currently on a plane to Korea. So updating will be a bit sporadic this week. Also, totally check out the new Rocketboom today!

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:12 AM | Comments (9)

July 07, 2006

Spring Art Party

As the outdoor art festival season heats up, here's a look back at a real gem in North Minneapolis. The Northside Arts Collective organized the 3rd annual Spring Art Party on June 3, 2006. Artist Bill Cottman says you most often hear about his Northside zip code because of something violent or tragic in the news. This art fair shows off some of the good things going on in the community. Here on Minnesota Stories, that's the kind of news we like to see.

Thanks to John Akre from Minneapolis Television Network for producing this video and sending it our way.

ATTENTION MINNESOTA MEDIAMAKERS AND BEYOND: Your intrepid vlogumentarian will be in Korea for a citizen's journalism conference next week. Here's where you come in -- take over this site with your Minnesota summer videos! You can send video files up to 1 GB using YouSendit. Email your Quicktime videos (or questions) to story@mnstories.com this weekend at the latest. You can also send me the link to a summer video you already posted. Thanks!

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:28 AM | Comments (0)

July 06, 2006

Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance is a video by Deb Wallwork about the making of a buffalo by the artist Laura Youngbird for HERD ABOUT THE PRAIRIE. Called WACAPI WANAGI/GHOST DANCE, Youngbird’s piece is now installed in front of the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center in Moorhead. Living in Breckenridge, Minnesota, Youngbird teaches art at Circle of Nations School in Wahpeton where the buffalo and this video were created. For an artist statement, click. The song GHOST DANCING is by Michael Rubino..

Thanks to Media Mike Hazard for passing this video our way.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 04:55 AM | Comments (3)

July 05, 2006

Sky Blue Waters

How did you spend the 4th of July? We canoed on Lake Calhoun, with a special visit from the Hamm's beer bear.

ATTENTION MINNESOTA MEDIAMAKERS AND BEYOND: Your intrepid vlogumentarian will be in Korea for a citizen's journalism conference next week. Here's where you come in -- take over this site with your Minnesota summer videos! You can send video files up to 1 GB using YouSendit. Email your Quicktime videos (or questions) to story@mnstories.com before or on Saturday, July 8.

Posted by Minnesota Stories at 02:37 AM | Comments (6)