Weekly Agenda: Support local awesomeness
Gayngs plays two shows at First Avenue on Friday
Minnesota residents are never short on points of local pride. Target Field alone offers plenty of reasons to beam like a grandparent on awards day: the Kirby Puckett statue out on the plaza, food options from local restaurants like Murray’s, and, as everyone who’s updated their Facebook status from the park has pointed out, they play Replacements songs over the loud speaker! The only
way we could love that place more is if Judy Garland rose from the dead to stand on the pitcher’s mound and recite lines from Coen brothers movies before every game.
Believe it or not, we have even more than usual to brag about this week. For one, there’s the release of the debut full-length from Gayngs (Friday, First Avenue), which The Guardian called its “album of the year so far.” Granted, the Brits also get excited about things like Manic Street Preachers and Crazy Frog, but we’re siding with them this time. Not only is Relayted a slinky ’80s nostalgia trip, but it might lead outsiders to explore the Twin Cities members’ other great bands like Mel Gibson And The Pants, Leisure Birds, and Lookbook, and that can only make the world a better place.
Further bolstering our position as a national culture hub is Northeast Minneapolis. Just a few weeks ago, The New York Times wrote up 13th Avenue as an up-and-coming area. If it took an East Coast publication to open your eyes to NE, there’s no better time to get to know the neighborhood than during Art-A-Whirl (Friday-Sunday, Northeast), a time when artists open their studios to the public for a weekend of art, live music, and parties. Trying to figure out
which events to hit up can be a daunting task, so we picked some of our favorites and created a multimedia map with pre-planned walking routes, photos of the artwork, and video interviews with artists and gallery owners. We’re providing a sneak peek of the map in this week’s paper, but to see the complete version in all its interactive glory, come back to the site tomorrow. Seriously. We spent a lot of time on this thing.
