It's Friday! Do you know what that means? That means I'm headed to the Minneapolis Tattoo Arts Convention in a few hours to do some journalist-y stuff, not to mention get a tattoo(!).
I spoke with Shane Wallin of Twilight Tattoo this week about getting ink job #4 while at the convention, and he was 'bout it-'bout it. So what am I getting? I think I'll let it be a surprise for now. If you don't see me in person in the next few weeks, then pick up an issue of vita.mn around mid-October and then you'll know.
Tonight is also exciting because my girl Gretchen is back in town for the wedding of Melissa Maerz and Chuck Klosterman (congrats, guys!). What's everyone up to today and tonight? Anything incredibly interesting going on? Anyone need any new suggestions for dining and drinks?
* More than 200 of the world's top artists * Live tattooing all weekend long
* Entertainment including The Enigma, Olde City Sideshow, burlesque show and tattoo contests
Win a tattoo courtesy of famed tattoo artist Troy Timpel on-site at the Minneapolis Tattoo Arts Convention, as well as a pair of tickets. There's also an additional pair of tickets up for grabs. Enter here.
See, Latino artists don't make it up this way much and Tego, along with several other musicians that I absolutely love, has never been here. This is a damn shame because the Twin Cities are packed with lovers of reggaetón, dancehall, salsa and good hip hop; just check out one of our weekly Latin dance nights. (Actually, check out AQUA downtown this Friday. They're kicking off a new weekly "Caliente" dance night that will be an ass-shaking mix of reggaetón, salsa, bachata, hip hop and top 40. There are also 2-4-1s and $3 Coronas until midnight. It should be really hot, and you will hear plenty of Tego Calderón.)
It's also a shame because it's not just Latinos that listen to this incredible dance music. M.I.A. (maybe you've heard of her) has been borrowing beats from the Caribbean since "Hombre," which is a straight-up reggaetón song. In fact, I've been trying to figure out why Tego hasn't reached the level of popularity that world artists like M.I.A. and Damian Marley have.
Is it because he doesn't rap in English? I say who the heck cares when the man can make music like this:
(The chicken meets his end in that video, just to warn you.)
In addition to being one of the world's most talented artists, Tego is also a conscientious celebrity. In 2007, he was asked to appear in a film called "Bling", a documentary about the high price of blood diamonds. Using the hip hop culture's obsession with bling as a springboard, the film follows Tego, Raekwon and Paul Wall as they head to West Africa to talk to miners, amputees and former child soldiers who were used to plunder the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone.
But back to my mission. Joining forces with my pal and fellow mega-Tego fan Guptan, we've started a Twitter account and a Facebook group dedicated to the cause. We've got both vita.mn and District Del Sol on board to help spread the word once we find a promoter and a venue committed to a show. Any help in the promoter/venue department would be much appreciated so, if you've got contacts, please let us know. We can reach the vita.mn readership and a huge chunk of the Latino community, which are both major assets in trying to book a show here.
Oh, and Tego? He replied to my Tweet to say "I'm down!" We're going to email him this week or next, to tell him how much the Twin Cities really wants to bring Tego to Minneapolis. But we need a little help-- we need strength in numbers!
If you love Tego, please join up with us on Twitter and Facebook. We promise we won't clutter up your pages with a bunch of unnecessary crap, we'll only keep you updated on bringing Tego to Minneapolis.
If you're not sure if you love Tego Calderón or not, Tweet at us, leave a comment on Facebook or just leave a comment here saying so. We can help you out with that by recommending a few songs to download.
I want to give a belated shout out to Nintendo for throwing a party for my friends and me a few Sundays ago, and especially for giving everyone a free DSi. And for catering it with awesome food and for being cool with the fact that we drank every last drop of booze in under three hours.
Also, big ups to Cirque du Soleil for the gratis tickets to Kooza last week. I'd never seen a CDS show before and I was totally blown away. Highly recommended, for all ages.
Alright, my inbox is full of great stuff, so here we go:
- The Uptown Market will hold its second event this Sunday. Check out wares from local artists, crafters, farmers and food vendors from 11:00am-5:00pm. They're on 29th Street between Lyndale and Dupont.
- If you loved the antics of my fellow 10 Second Film Festival judge, the misguided philanthropist Mrs. Smith, head to Patrick's Cabaret this Friday and Saturday night. Local actor and musician David Hanbury will be performing as Mrs. Smith for "Queer Boyz Nite," starting at 8:00pm both nights.
- Arc's Value Village is having a storewide summer clearance sale next Saturday and Sunday, July 25th and 26th. All merchandise (except white-tagged items) will be 50% off.
- No more confusion, it's definitely this Saturday, July 25th: Blacklist Vintage is having a Digger's Sale from 11:00am-7:00pm. Owner Vanessa Messersmith says she's lining the sidewalk with $1-5 bins full of vintage textiles, clothing and housewares, and the shop's entire inventory will be 10% off. There will also be free cupcakes and drinks, $1 regular and veggie hot dogs and Transmission DJ Jake Rudh spinning from 12:00-4:00pm. Sounds like a party!
[Or is it August 22? Or 29? Or, and this is most likely, is it really this Saturday, July 25th? Stay tuned for a correction. The email I got last week definitely says "Saturday, August 25."]
I was feeling a little sloth-y today, not having gotten dressed until 3:00pm and still in need of a shower after spending the previous afternoon gardening at my parents' house. Turns out, whiling away much of your day on the internet can really pay off. I entered a contest via Twitter for a 5-night Mayan Riviera getaway from Karisma Hotels & Resorts and, by the time I finished showering and touching up my roots (a task I will never attempt again), Karisma had announced that I was the winner!
Yucatan, baby, here I come!
I'm still waiting for an email with the full details of the package, but I'm crossing my fingers that the blackout dates aren't too strict. The Mexican won't be able to accompany me if I have to go soon and, if that's the case, he's making me bring my mom.
It's that time of year, that third weekend in May, when Twin Cities' residents descend upon my neighborhood for 36-hour art/music/jewelry/clothing/food/beer/dive bar/block party extravaganza that is Art-A-Whirl.
It was my pleasure to be assigned the cover story write-ups for The Modern Cafe, Northeast staple urban diner, as well as the just-opened Northeast Social, a fancy but fun restaurant with a killer daily half-price wine happy hour. Read my vita.blurb on Northeast Social for now, and I'll review the chow here later as soon as we become intimate.
Art-A-Whirl is also a kickass time to hit up the neighborhood's garage sales, as is evident by searching for them on Craigslist. (Hint-hint: one of them is at my house.)
After I've tended my garage sale and explored some studios, you can probably find me along 4th Street after dark. The Knight Cap, my stumbling distance bar of choice, has started serving grill and deep-fryer food; I'm not quite sure what to think about that, so I must check it out. They're also doing an Art-A-Whirl special, polish sausage and 16-ounce domestic tap for $4, if you're into that sort of thing.
This has provided an obscene amount of entertainment* today, in between all the mixing, pouring, rolling and tasting. My Pillsbury Bake-Off dessert recipe is complete! It just needs a name now. I still have to tweak my appetizer yet, but it's a pretty simple one.
* In case it's not obvious, Trekking other people is way more fun than Trekking yourself.
It was brought to my attention about 2 weeks ago that my friend and fellow Minneapolis resident Nea was recently crowned reigning queen of RuPaul's Drag Race (!).
Not having fancy cable and therefore not having the Logo channel, I didn't know anything about this. It turns out, a lot of people didn't, because I poked around local news from around the time the final episode of the season aired, and I didn't find anything.
So let's give a little more deserved attention to Miss Bebe Zahara Benet, well-known on local drag stages and soon to be lauded all over the world. I know Bebe offstage as Nea, a sweet, soft-spoken cutie with lots of class and a penchant for jaunty caps.
Get it, girl. (And by "it" I mean your $10,000.00 prize from Absolut Vodka for winning the contest.)
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