Tonight, two accomplished artists we’ve seen before at the Dakota: Dee Dee Bridgewater accompanied by Bill Charlap. Their performances were relaxed, low-key, and wonderfully spontaneous. They focused on The American Songbook with no set list, leaning heavily on scat and improvisation.
Category: Twin Cities
Reaching for the sky
The rain decided it was a day for a skyway walk. With almost 10 miles of these elevated pathways, I find it best not to plan a specific route. Instead, I set a target: today, the convention center. But the circuitous skyway system had other plans, offering me my city from many different angles.
No kings
Joined a huge crowd in downtown Minneapolis to assert government is for the people and must adhere to the law. (Over 100,000 attended the Minneapolis rally. Nationwide there were more than 2,700 rallies with over 7 million attendees.)
Luce Line State Trail ride
Cycled part of the Luce Line with a friend, starting at Theodore Wirth Park and going to Medicine Lake. A circumnavigation of Medicine Lake added more mileage than we bargained for. Here, we’re cycling a boardwalk across wetland. The rail track is on a trestle. Later, my friend sent me a map showing we covered significantly more ground on a similar ride back in 2021. I guess we’re not exactly spring chickens anymore!
A modest home with a story
Cycled through South Minneapolis with a friend on a route loosely themed around racial justice, stopping here at the former home of Harry Davis, Sr. He was a civil rights advocate in a racially divided Minneapolis from the 1940s and throughout the turmoil of the 1960s, and in 1971 became the city’s first Black mayoral candidate. The city is applying to have this house added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Dakota Rail Trail ride
Both my friend and I felt the last few miles of this year’s longest bike ride: a round trip on the Dakota Rail Trail from Wayzata to St. Bonifacius. We earned our lunch of coffee and salted caramel cheesecake, which we enjoyed in St. Bonifacius before burning it off on the ride back.
Finding anti-fascism in a Minneapolis park
After giving up on finding a local or national Antifa office, I cycled in search of something tangible about the anti-fascist cause. Flags were at full staff at Sheridan Memorial Park when I paused at this sign commemorating American anti-fascist fighters of World War II. I appreciate how this park honors ordinary, working-class people, like Howard Weller (mask, complete with oxygen tubes) from Northeast Minneapolis, without glorifying war.
Upriver to Anoka
Cycled upriver with Dwight and a friend visiting from the UK to Anoka, a four-hour trip that included a stop at a fine bakery and another stop to admire an extraordinary Halloween yard display. In Anoka, after beer and snacking on appropriately unhealthy starters, we took the Northstar Line back to Minneapolis. We’ll all sleep well tonight.
Conflicting honors
This morning, flags were still at half-staff outside the American Red Cross building near our home, a tribute to the children killed in a recent school shooting. Meanwhile, the president has ordered flags at half-staff at federal buildings for a man who believed that gun deaths are a price we must accept for the Second Amendment. (The light and dark blue flag is the Minnesota state flag.)
Where industry meets art
Got a preview of Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival later this month in an industrial area of St. Paul. Over the years, more than 80 murals have been painted on industrial buildings in the neighborhood, and it’s surprisingly free of graffiti. This year’s festival includes this new mural, “Pitzik’ Q’ij: Court of the Sun” by local artist Cadex Herrera. His mural depicting George Floyd against a massive sunflower is recognized worldwide.