Minnesota/Minnesotans C or D

The Rainbow is pretty good but my favourite Viet used to be Trieu Chau, where Azia is now. The Lotus (Viet of choice in school) is now unspeakably bad and something about Kinhdo makes me vom, I think it's too many shredded carrots in the spring rolls, so I only eat at the Nicollet Viets anyway. There are a few new Viet/Cambodian/Laotian places I will have to try when I'm back next that looked like they were set up on the ground floor of some of the more housey-shaped retail spaces.

Someone in my immediate family has been a Vikings season-ticket holder since the beginning of the team (my sister holds now, my grandfather had 50 yard-line seats). The first owner, Max Winter, had a daughter in the same year at school as my aunt, so the dance line Max' daughter was in became the Vikings cheerleaders by osmosis. Bleurgh, Parkettes. Feathered hair, lip gloss, dirty looks, struggle to maintain B average for doing nails in class.

I am SO craving Seb Joe's Oreo ice cream it isn't even funny. (haha I used to make cones for them!)

oh my god. I cannot even fucking believe I forgot the classic to end all classics: LITTLE TIJUANA. oh my god. I love love LOVE that place to DEATH.

Rainbow is Taiwanese, actuellement, if that's the place Chris and Matt took me. They have bubble drinks.

MCAD students with deadlines probably grateful for the crayons.

I caused a Scot to shudder with tales of mozzies AND midges together.

also, upthread you mentioned Southdale as birthplace of postmodernism. explain yourself!

Southdale was the very first atrium mall in the whole world, and had a 'sidewalk cafe' where my mom and aunt worked the 'outdoor' tables. Simulacrae ahoy!

all the reasons mentioned above and more

every rock music fan in the world owes themsleves a trip to the 7th Street Entry, the greatest rock club on the planet. Even if the state only consisted of that tiny black room and the Summit Brewery it would still be an all time classic

most passive-aggressive population of human beings to ever grace the face of the earth

Oh, I forgot... the "National American University" jingle.

El Rey De Oro on Nicollet & 35th in south...

Chiapas - not sure of the intersection, but it's up on north central by Fat Boy Billiards...

both nice family run joints...el rey specializes in seafood, chiapas is good all around.....I want to marry the salsa that they put out with their free chips and salsa before you order..

i think it's better than Taco Bell, but that's not saying much...

Classic: rural Minnesota

And what about Information Society? Also classic.

Now that the trees are blooming, I'll go with classick. Winter makes me cynical and prone to the MN disease of self-conscious paralysis. April thru Sept. makes me want to have long-distance love affairs with the Mage. Classic.

Classic: rural Minnesota

no diggity!

My homeland, God's country:

http://www.be.blue-earth.mn.us/

Classic =

Everyday People
Uptown Theater
The Plastic Constellations
The Tuna Melt at Grumpy's
Evergreen
D4
Copper Dome
Day by Day Cafe
Run Westy Run circa 'Dizzy Road'
Margherita Club at Bar Abilene
Guitar Band
Dara's food column in CP
Sonny's Ice Cream
CC Club
*I'm* fond of the record store I worked at for 11 years (even if others are not)
CC Club [I only go there once a year or so, but it fulfills it's mission as a pleasant neighborhood bar. In fact, it was overcrowding at the CC which lead to our looking for other nearby places to hang out, bringing us to the Red Dragon. It was so deserted that even on weekend nights, the front room wouldn't fill up. Now all three rooms are packed even on Mondays, bringing us back full circle to the CC where one can sit down and drink (albeit not such fancy boozy drinks). ]

I tried to stick to things that hadn't already been mentioned, but the utter classicness of Lifter Puller, Cows, Replacements, Husker Du, 7th St, Triple Rock, Kevin Cole and Rod Smith cannot be stated enough.

Dud =

People that I like to hang out with moving away to bigger and 'better' places. It makes sense to me that one would want to move to Sydney, Paris or London (especially if it's somewhere you should have been born in the first place- Hi Suzy!), but to me, moving anywhere else in America would be a lateral move and therefore pointless. That said, other people's obsession with NYC is akin to my own fascination with other countries, so I could be more understanding and less pissy about the whole thing.

Chris K

Heh -- the MST3K crew did an enjoyable enough Tolkien parody called Edward the Less which intentionally played on the 'Midwesterners obsess over/worship NYC' stereotype, as described by Kevin Murphy in an interview at the time.

I thought the category HOUSE PARTIES AT CHRIS K's would be a bit too obscure, but they are classic. And I also have to shake the fist as have never yet been taken to Copper Dome.

Next time, Suz, next time! (Oh yeah, I discovered your email was down when I sent you a long one that bounced back, which I have since accidentally deleted. I'd call you now, but the internet will be tying up your line. Let's talk soon, though!)

Speaking of those oh so fun parties, I was cleaning the basement last week and found the remnants of the vines we used to decorate ourselves and the drum kit last time we played a show down there. Memorial Day, 1991, the date that we discovered that you were good to play has long has you had downed 2 1/2 drinks but never 3. Good times.

i wanted to revive this to ask if anyone has any insights into mn being a red state all of a sudden. what happened? the mall? redistricting? i don't quite get it.

The current state of Block E is far more saddening to me than humorous. I survived many an hour plus bus ride (including transferring) from St. Paul to go to Minneapolis, and Northern Lights in particular, the original location of which was found on the North side of Block E. It was tiny, with the hardcore records and a place to put your skateboard right at the front. There was a row of records down the middle of the rest of it, and on weekends or before / after shows it would be so crowded that the only path through the store was one way. The clerks (Ryan, Rod and Randy) were like gods to me and the role models my parents never wanted me to have. Years later, when Northern Lights moved to a larger location on the next block, Vaughn, the resident lech, would try to convince me to go see 25 cent movies at Fantasy House on Block E. I prefered Shinders, where I would buy import priced copies of the Face and Suzy would read NME and Melody Maker at lightning speed so she wouldn't have to buy them. Rifle Sport Gallery was there, as well as Moby Dick's, home to a 'whale of a drink'. I never actually had a drink there but did peek my head inside once and also saw large numbers of 'patrons' staggering out of the front door and collapsing in the gutter.

Even it's transitionary period as a parking lot had it's saving grace, as it provided a place for Cheap Trick to play for free a few years back.

When go by there now, I see the ghosts of punks, drunks and the business people who would hurrily walk down the sidewalk, dodging the misfits.