Things To Do In Minneapolis When You're Dead

Right. Sorry. Please excuse the week-long absence, there was a death in the family & a nasty intra-band fight to attend to. I’m back now, though. So … where were we? Oh, yes: What to do, what to do?

Simple: Beg, borrow or steal $40 and get your frozen ass to The Dakota tonight. Why, you ask? It’s not for the food (although The Dakota has the best food of any jazz club I’ve ever entered). It’s not because $40 is cheap (although you should’ve saved at least that much by now, if you’ve been following the advice given here).

No. The reason is: Me’shell Ndegeocello.

That should warm you up.

Failing that — and it is a little cold outside — you can see the inimitable Ronald K. Brown with Evidence dance company, performing three original pieces tonight at the Ordway: ‘Grace,’ describing the journey of a goddess to earth, set to the music of Duke Ellington; ‘On Earth Together,’ co-commissioned by the Ordway and using the music of Stevie Wonder to express the relationship between individuals and the world; ‘IFE/My Heart’ explores the conflicts and interrelationships between Cuba, West Africa and the United States. Seven-thirty p.m.  $20—$38

It’s simple: If you haven’t yet been to the re-opened Weisman Art Museum (complete with new Gehry addition) — or if, through some horrific mischance, you’ve never been there at all — stop. What. You. Are. Doing and go there, right now.

We’ll wait.

Like many cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul have a deep, hidden past — one that you can only experience by going underground. There are caves. There are disused sewers. There are abandoned sub-levels. There are mines. There are places even spookier than that. They are pretty generally off-fucking-limits; all require caution, a level head and a clear sense of direction. Use the buddy system in any event; never go alone, because the gods will amuse themselves with your hubris — and you will die cold, in the dark, being gnawed by rats … alone. Okay? So use. The. Buddy system, please. You can be like our heroes in Action Squad and go everywhere and document (ahem: nearly) everything while adhering to a strict code, or you can strike out in directions of your choosing. Nothing is more liberating than finding a secret city six steps off the beaten paths in your usual world and it is great fun but please be advised: You are pretty much on your own.

The Minneapolis music scene: There is nothing like it anywhere. Again, whether it’s down to innate Scandinavian musical talent or long winters with nothing to do but drink, screw and practice or if it’s because Hüsker Dü and the damned Replacements — not to mention a certain short, pretty Funky One — were here first or if it’s due to the easy availability of good drugs at reasonable prices or what: This place has more talent per capita. That’s it: More. Talent. Per capita. And so we will take some time to explore, okay; we’re worthy of more than a single post! Our guest tonight is Señor Sabastian Love — poet, preacher, promoter, all-around thriftily hip bastard and the resident guiding spirit behind Bad Medicine Productions.

         
photo by Oliver Kristón

ERICK: Hey. So tell us about Bad Medicine. It seems a bit different than a straight ‘promotions’ company, but I can’t exactly put my finger on the reason why. Maybe it’s your mustache …

S. LOVE: We have come from the land of the ice & snow with a faltering sun where the Catastrophic Rock grows. Minnesota has long needed a banner for the dirtier side of rock music and Bad Medicine is happy to oblige. We’ll also be working with a number of acoustic artists, of a special blend. We’ve been booking a lot of shows, we’re starting a record label and we’re expanding.

Bad Medicine is also involved with social benefit-shows — like the 10th Annual Fundraiser for Avenues for Homeless Youth, thrown with Jungle Red Salon Spa & Gallery, this February 18th at Jungle Red [Avenues focuses on aid to GLBT and homeless youth in North Minneapolis —e] and also with political fundraisers, like our benefit for MN NORML with Maria Isa at Cause last September. [During the infamous Enormous Beast residency, a story we’re saving for now. —e]. This month we’re throwing the residency for Dandylion Warpaint at Cause: five dates, the second of which is tomorrow night, always cheap drinks, free cover and there’s sixteen bands throughout the month. My mustache will be present.

ERICK: Interesting. Do you think there is a new emphasis on activism, or a shift in the attitudes of the people playing and listening to the filthier ends of the rock spectrum? ‘Cause, frankly, these people haven’t been at the forefront of any kind of social-consciousness movement since the sixties. Quite the reverse: buncha damn troglodytes. Your thoughts?

S. LOVE: I was thirsty. So were others and now we gather to bend our necks and drink from the river of rock.

ERICK: Okay … I’ll drink to that. From that. Whatever. So how did Bad Medicine come about? I know you were involved in (are still doing?) the Thrifty Hipster website, but I think a lot of people would like to hear how Bad Medicine was born.

S. LOVE: Bed Medicine is named after a lake in northern Minnesota. I was a little late in making any sort of Bad Medicine entity online, but now we’ve got a page on facebook, a twitter, and we’re working on a web site. A band initially came to me asking help this past May and I booked my first show with them in early June. By the end of October, the entity that would become Bad Medicine had booked around thirty gigs and since then we’ve been focusing more on spreading things out a bit. Ragstock asked us to throw an Ugly Sweater Party for them that featured Blues Pills (of Radio Moscow, from Iowa) as well as local acts The Jelly Project and Blueclaw. ThriftyHipster.com sponsored that as well as the residencies at Cause last September and this month. We’ve been making a lot of great contacts and we’re recently mobilizing to evolve Bad Medicine into a record label.

ERICK: Right on. I know you’ll keep us updated on that. Any other events in January you’d like to lay on us?

S. LOVE: Well, Pandora’s Boxcutter is playing Cause this Thursday with Sexy Dirty. The Jelly Project is playing Kitty Cat Klub on the 14th. Black Church Service is having a CD Release at 7th Street Entry on the 21st. The Cheap Thrills can be found at the 331 on the 25th, and Fuck Knights are playing with RapeDoor at The Nomad on the 28th … I suppose that could keep someone busy, no?

ERICK: Sweet. I wouldn’t miss that Fuck Knights show for all the opium in China (you readers better not miss it either because it is going to rock). Let’s get heavy for a minute. Tell us what you mean by “Catastrophic Rock.”

S. LOVE: Somethin’ so’s the ladies can shake their asses.

Oh, yes, let us not forget: the gangs. If the walking tour of Fitzgerald’s life (see below) doesn’t turn your crank, during the 1920s and 30s St. Paul — known in those days, and largely for its famously corrupt city administration, as the “Silver City” — was the hideout of choice for some of the most notorious and ruthless criminals in America.

Many of these gun-toting scofflaws and their equally tough molls (man … I have always wanted to write the word ‘molls’ to say nothing of having a legitimate chance to use the excellent ‘scofflaw’) could be found in the Wabasha Caves, the home of speakeasies during Prohibition and the site of tours and other events here in the future. Several enterprises offer guided tours of the hidden ganglands in St. Paul but you are, of course, free to organize your own!

A great place to start is ‘John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks’ Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936,’ by Paul Maccabbee.

Mn. Historical Society: gangsters

Minnesota Monthly April 2007: crime capital

Saint Paul gangster history tour