The differences between L.A. and MPLS

There are a lot of differences between L.A. and Minneapolis. I have gone into some of them in previous posts. One of the most telling differences between them is in free reading material. When I lived in Minneapolis my social activity centered around the City Pages . A free weekly newspaper very similar to the LA Weekly and New York's Village Voice. The City Pages was always full of great things to do including seeing local bands (God, I miss the local music scene) art crawls and my favorite find Atari Party. (Every Atari game, kegs and local bands 10:PM until dawn)

I thought that I would have similar luck with the LA Weekly, but unfortunately the majority of what I can find there is where I can get breast augmentation, reduction, botox, chemical peels, rhinoplasty, tanned, buffed extensions, color contacts and other places to change the way I look.

Because how I look just isn't good enough right?

I know that fashion magazines do the same thing, but at least they are a little bit obtrusive about it.

I feel like here they are letting you know about the great things to do in this town but if you want to go, you better at least get a chemical peel before you go.

On another related note I was looking at a W magazine today and one of the recommendations for skin care in your 30's is botox to get rid of crow's feet. You know that Botox is Botulism right? I am 30 and would rather have crow's feet.

I much prefer the Minneapolis come as you are attitude.

I have an email address-use it

I was wondering if people could send me some Minneapolis dish.

What good Minneapolis Blogs are out there?
Are they ever going to fix the 35W Bridge?
What the hell happened with Uptown?
Is Mark Wheat still with the Current?
Is Cheapo still an expensive place to buy CDs?

I am feeling a bit nostalgic for Minneapolis lately and my family doesn't live in the city, they live in the suburbs, my friends are impossible to get in touch with and my best friend married a crazy woman. (after divorcing a crazy woman, maybe he is crazy)

Email me at fadeinmail@gmail.com

Next two posts promise

My blog has pretty much been about music and self loathing lately. So, I promise to lay off music, stop feeling sorry for myself and then talk about L.A. again.


I also know that I mentioned the Getty a lot so to also kill that bird, I strongly recommend going to see their California Video exhibit. I love video art and to see how innovative people are. I think many of these people were vloggers before the invention of vlogging.

You can catch some of what is available in the exhibit, plus find out how you can submit some of your videos to the Getty.

Enough already!!

Happy Birthday Yo!

Check out Yo! MTv Raps 20th birthday site. Check out some old school videos and MTv before it was all reality shows.

Happy birthday!!!!

Thank you Yo! for introducing a small town Minnesota girl to the world of Hip-Hop. My life would be strange w/o you.

Let me know what you think about the top 20 countdown email me at fade in mail at gmail dot com

A quote as relevant today as 40 years ago

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

Free with just a click of a button

I find myself listening to the same bands just new music of theirs. Like me being excited about the new Portishead. If ever you feel like you want to hear new music and you don't know where to go and you, like me, do not have a lot of money, go here and subscribe to their podcast.

I have heard so many new bands that I haven't heard of before.

It also has turned me on to my favorite album of 2008 so far the self titled Mono in VCF . It is like finding a present in a time capsule.

When I finally get a job, KEXP will be the first place I donate to.

Still not feeling it

The only bright part of my day was this.

portishead's new video from their upcoming album. April 29th will be one of the happiest days of my life.

a hard quiz that is sure to take up a moment of your time

I admittedly am in feel sorry for myself mode lately. Not a fun space to be in and I haven't been posting due to my woe is me attitude the past few days. I have now been unemployed for almost two months and try as I might, I am not feeling as optimistic as I once was. Last week showed so much promise, but I am back to playing phone tag with one place and my little birdie friend at another job said it looked good for me, but alas no word yet.

So the only thing I can offer you is this really hard music lyric quiz. (That I found on my favorite blog Pop Candy)

click here

All of the words are in alphabetical order so it is a bit hard to switch your mind to think of a song in this way. I got 18/50 and am so bummed that I missed a song by The Clash, after talking about them.

Drop me a line and let me know how you did.

Another opportunity to walk the walk

If you are against the war and missed L.A.s protest on Saturday, you do have another opportunity to participate. Please click the link below for vigils in your area. It looks like many still have room for you.

vigil locater . brought to you by moveon.org.

To see a great photo essay of Saturday's events go to LA ist

Tap Project-Organization of the week

As Americans we take a lot of the things we have for granted. One of those things being clean, drinkable water. As many of you may have heard this week is World Water Week. Organizations like the Tap Project are making it easy for you to participate in helping clean water a reality for millions.

Please visit their website www.tapproject.org for information on how you can participate.

Did you know that $1 can help give a child clean water for 40 days? That means that $9.50 can provided water for a whole year. That is less money than to see a movie at the Arclight.

Kudos to all of the restaurants that are participating. You will see many in the Los Angeles area.

As a note, I learned from some server friends of mine that if you are interested in participating, please let the server know when you are ordering. They ring up your donation as part of the bill and that it is hard to ring it up later and can be confused as a tip. We all want money to go to the project. So say:

"I would like a turkey burger, with a side of vegetables, an ice tea and I would like to make a $25 dollar donation to the Tap Project."

Some of the servers will make a point to let you know that their restaurant is participating and will ask if you are interested in participating, but some won't so if you want to participate, be proactive and ask.

As part of my former blog, Lemon Life, I featured local organizations that make a difference in the community they serve. I have some great organizations lined up and I am happy to start with World Water Week.

Recommendation to watch: Sundance's Iconoclasts w/ Isabella Rosellini and Dean Kamen