Minneapolis

[Laurie]

Ooh, ooh! I found something fun to do at night. I was so sad that I was going to miss Calvin Johnson, AS I LOVE HIM. There is a Pride block party on the 22nd, though, and Bob Mould is playing. I like Bob Mould.

Also, gilly or any other Minnesotans who would like to hang out, do you want to get a drink when I'm in town? It will be a mini-Minnie FOT meet-up.

[J W Buchanan]

Record shopping at the Electric Fetus, weekend vegan brunch at the Triple Rock, comics at Big Brain (where Mike is THE BEST). Avoid the Hard Times unless you're a 17-year-old vegan punk and you need to listen to Op Ivy while eating a greasy pile of slop. If you're like Petey you can go and break into the watchtower where Bob Dylban wrote "All Along the Watchtower," but if you prefer His Purpleness, then take a drive out to Chanhassen and scope out the compound. Outside of the Walker, most of my MPLS people rave about this automated museum thing by the river that takes you straight up into a huge old grain elevator, like Tower of Terror, but with learning, and grain.

I'm happy that people are doing this, but I'm also kind of pissed because I was the first to make one of these travel tips thread and nobody helped me out (I deleted it out of shame). As a result, I ended up going to see the Bodies exhibit at the mall, which was next to Urban Outfitters for my post-plastinated-corpse-viewing novelty tee & gag gift needs. I hope you're all happy.

[TRL]

I didn't get to this thread yet but if you need any info on the cities you can contact me at tom at modern-radio dot com.  I am an FOT (and have meant to call more but I never get a chance to listen live).  I do a label called Modern Radio.  The message board at www.modern-radio.com has a lot of random posting (there is a Best show thread in there amongst a million things).  It is a great place to find info about smaller and bigger shows, local bands, random conversation, and lots of good people (even though some online can be somewhat harsh).  I love the Twin Cities and love being able to tell people about great places.

Record Stores:(all these are independent)
Treehouse (great mix of everything and been around forever. independent)
Roadrunner (another great one.  independent)
Extreme Noise (punk / hardcore and a mix of other stuff)
Eclipse (st. paul, mix of stuff)
Hymies (vinyl only. Lots of older stuff, 45s, big store and lots of good find)

"chain" stores: several cheapos.  One in St. Paul off Snelling and one in Uptown. Both have a huge vinyl selection.

Used clothes:
Everyday People (uptown and dinkytown)
Tatters
bunch of Savers and Goodwill Stores
Lots of places around St. Paul / midway area and uptown area too

Eating: Lots of options.  All of the places I am listing are very vegetarian friendly
Pizza Luce (great weekend brunch at the st. paul and duluth ones.  The three in Minneapolis are great too)
Triple Rock (vegan options for weekend brunch and great lunch and dinner)
Evergreen (Chinese/Taiwanese. Lots of fake meat options)
The Vegetarian and Mysore (two separate and great indian restaurants)
Kinhdo (great vietnamese)
Jasmine Deli (cheap and great vietnamese)
Al's Breakfast (dinkytown.  Small 13 seat place that is always packed on the weekends. Only breakfast. Long line on weekends where you stand behind people at bar eating but its worth the wait and the atmosphere is really fun)

Venues worth supporting (in my opinion)
The Hexagon (Minneapolis)
First Ave (mpls)
Turf Club (st. paul)
Big V's (st. paul)
Triple Rock Social Club (mpls)
Memory Lanes (mpls..hit or miss. Bowling alley too)

There are a few great houses that have shows too here and there too.

Feel free to get in touch though if you are coming through town if you are an FOT. I am sure I missed quite a few things like the Walker Art museum, the number of galleries, decent bars, places to eat, etc.

[Laurie]

Thanks for the tips, J W, despite your misfortune with your own thread.

I will probably check out Electric Fetus, despite the fact that I have no interest whatsoever in a Ryan Adams lithograph. Do they have a twee section? If I had a record store, the twee section would be adorned with paintings of baby chicks and kittens. It would rot your teeth.

Also, I will drive very slowly by Paisley Park if I get the chance. The Purple One is in Vegas, no, correct? There's no chance he'll invite me in and talk to me about Jehovah or something? What a pity.

There are apparently cute paintings hanging up in The Beat Coffee Shop -- HORRIBLE name for a coffee shop. I'm always on the lookout for cute shit to add to my walls, though.

Oh man, I never hit submit, so, thanks TRL also!

[johnfgillson]

I've heard good things about Al's Breakfast but I didn't know you had to wait like that. That would be an uncomfortable meal with someone waiting to sit down over your shoulder. Are Cheapos a national chain? I always thought they were a MN company. I have found so many good CDs there for 3 bucks and under with a few scratches on them. I remember on time I went in and got an album from Olivia Tremor Control, Pernice Brothers and Squeeze for like 9 bucks.

As for meeting up, I work nights so I don't know if I'll be able to do anything.

[TRL]

Well, Cheapo's are a local chain versus the other stores that are all independently owned and run.  Cheapo has a few stores in the Twin Cities that are all run by the same people and they have ones out of state that were franchised but not run by the main office or anything like that.  I think they just got to use the name and such. 

Al's breakfast is hit or miss. If you are going on the weekend, you will wait long, but it is really fuckin' good. 

I don't believe anyone has a twee section but if you are looking for good used stuff, its really the time.  Everyone seems to be selling there stuff more than buying so all of the places I listed have pretty robust and good used sections.

Laurie, I don't know if it is still open and I don't know why I haven't been there myself, but there is a place called Robot Love off Lyndale and 27th that has all sorts of cute japanese toys and such. 

[Laurie]

Oooooh, Japanese toys! Hey, it's right next to the Toomer Galley. I'm heading over there anyway.  I will probably drop a lot of money at this Robot Love store. Oh, man, I have a budget. I don't want to spend it all in one place, especially since I need to buy more art for my walls.

[Laurie]

Ooh, ooh, I need to know this. Could you please tell me if I should rent a car or take public transportation? How are the buses? Are they any good? Are there readily available cabs? Do I have to call for cabs?

[johnfgillson]

Ooh, ooh, I need to know this. Could you please tell me if I should rent a car or take public transportation? How are the buses? Are they any good? Are there readily available cabs? Do I have to call for cabs?

That's a tough one. It depends on how much you are going to be commuting. I live in St. Anthony Village which is about 10 minutes away and the buses that run out there stop at 1am. Mpls. public transportation can be great but it really depends on when you need it and where you want to go. But, if your staying downtown the light rail is an option. I just don't know the hours. Cabs are definitely readily available. If you rent a car parking is pretty easy at night and on weekends and all of the attractions have parking. Plus, if you were planning on going to the MOA that would be a spendy cab ride since it's about 20-25 minutes outside of downtown. I'd say rent a car to avoid scheduling hassles and let you explore outside of downtown. But, someone who knows the bus/light rail system better might correct me.

[Laurie]

What's the deal with this Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge? Is it any good? It sounds cute.

[TRL]

Psycho Suzi's is pretty cool. They have some cool glasses you can get a drink at and are a "tiki" lounge. It use to be more of a general "cool" place to hang out but it seems like became much more adult.  It can be quite busy there in the Spring / Summer with the huge patio although indoors is easier to find places to sit.  Lots of comfort food and fruity drinks.

I haven't been to Robot Love myself for some bizarre reason.  I think I am worried I would drop some serious cash there.

As far as commuting, it really does depend on how much you will be commuting and how flexible you are.  Minnesota doesn't have the best public transport. You will be able to get to and from the airport, Mall of America and downtown on the light rail but there is not a ton in between to go to.  For example, you would definitely need to hit one or two buses to get to Psycho Suzi's.  Same with Uptown. Its walkable from downtown but you are talking about 1-2 miles.  Once you get to Uptown you can walk around quite a bit and with the construction on Lyndale near Lake St. It may be worth it. 

How long are you in town?

[Laurie]

I'll just be arriving late on the June 21st and staying through the weekend. We head out mid-morning on Monday. Did you know that the flights going in and out of Minneapolis suck? They do! ONE non-stop flight. ONE. Jesus.

So you're saying that renting a car may be worth it? I'll look into something with GPS. Ugh. I don't want to spend $400 on a car, and I don't want to pull my hair out finding parking places and shit, but I also don't want to wait 20 minutes to catch a stupid bus with inconvenient stops and have to walk 10 blocks ANYWAY. I don't know.

[johnfgillson]

It costs 400 bucks to rent a car? I've never rented one before...is that including mileage and gas?

[Laurie]

It costs 400 bucks to rent a car? I've never rented one before...is that including mileage and gas?

It can. I reserved one with GPS through AAA. $130 total. Not bad, eh? Of course, they can't guarantee the style, so I might be driving around in a jalopy or some sort of horseless carriage that does not befit me.

[Laurie]

I leave in 10 minutes, yay. Bye.