The Wake

The Weather Channel lists the average high temperature of Minneapolis in December at 26 degrees. So why does anyone live here? Good question.Every winter people call attention to the many negative aspects of living in an arctic-esque climate. It’s a view that fits in nicely with overcast skies seasonal depression. But I am going to do a public service and try to cheer people up.Sure you may be paying exorbitant energy prices just to keep your place warm enough to keep your cheeks from freezing to the toilet seat, but look on the bright side. Think of every morning …

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America’s youth are naively succumbing to manufactured images produced by America’s big corporations and organizations for profit. As a result, there are adolescents walking America’s streets with no clue as to what reality is. These males and females are mainstream culture consumers. They are caught in a coma of reality and are subsequently sustained by whatever image corporate America prescribes. Alone, this fact is not a great evil or threat to humanity. However, if one does not read the warning labels of particular images, then potential health risks to the whole of society can occur.As of now, America is the …

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At Carnegie Hall may be 2005’s most unexpected release, as well as one of its best. Long thought to be lost, the recordings of this concert were unearthed at the Library of Congress and released by Blue Note Records this fall.The collaboration of Monk and Coltrane, the former a brilliant composer/pianist and the latter a visionary soloist, is breathtaking. Their interplay on this live recording is so seemingly natural that their studio sessions are stiff by comparison. One listen to the opening track, “Monk’s Mood,” and you’ll wish that Coltrane’s tenure with this quartet had resulted in something more long-lived.Regardless …

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I have always thought of Wilco albums as works of art, congruent in their entirety, and packed with layers upon layers of meaning. When I heard they were releasing a live album I thought, “This is great, I love Wilco.” When I finally got the double-disc set in my hands, I was confused. The songs were all out of order! There were people trying to sing along to Jeff Tweedy! Anarchy, in a sense. As I meandered my way, bewildered, through the first disc, it hit me: There is something here that I had not yet considered. Wilco may be …

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Isaac Brock and Mark Kozelek know what they’re doing. As the lead singers and songwriters in Modest Mouse and Sun Kil Moon, respectively, they’ve awed innumerable listeners with their distinct styles and exceptional lyrics. They sound wholly dissimilar — Modest Mouse’s music is skillfully cynical and impulsive, while Sun Kil Moon’s sound touches its listener with wondrous, subtle harmonics. They are both daring and successful, which is why Sun Kil Moon’s newest release, Tiny Cities, is so disappointing.Tiny Cities is an attempted, yet failed, tribute to Modest Mouse. Kozelek selected songs from every Modest Mouse full length, from Sad Sappy …

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When one discusses the origins of hip-hop, the United States immediately comes to mind. This is not to say people fail to recognize hip-hop’s global influence. In recent years, the Internet and other technology have propelled emcees from the UK’s hip-hop scene into the limelight. Yet, the artists exposed to the masses tend to come out of a sub-genre of the UK hip-hop scene called garage. The beats of this music are typically frantic drum and bass tracks laced with elements of hip-hop and reggae. With the dancehall craze, it is no surprise that this sound is the most recognizable …

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A good rock band can change the way a listener thinks about music, and simultaneously offer them something that feels familiar. They use the best elements of a song and put an original twist on them. This is exactly what Coach Said Not To does on a consistent basis.They have pretty typical instrumentation, using guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, but the vocals are what will immediately catch your ear. In the male-dominated realm of rock music, Coach Said Not To, an entirely female group, stands apart. The voices of sisters Eva and Linnea Mohn (the guitar and bass players respectively) …

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If Leo Kottke were to ever get sick of playing guitar (please, God, may that never happen) he could easily make a career out of storytelling. In addition to being a self-taught guitar virtuoso, Kottke has an oddball wit like no other. At his annual Thanksgiving weekend show at the Ordway Center, the Minnesota favorite proved that he can effectively fill the room with the sounds of his guitar, and between songs, with laughter from an enthralled audience. An intimate Leo Kottke performance is something to be appreciated by guitarists and non-guitarists alike. His playing was, as it always is, …

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The mouth of the river
is what I want to show you.
How it bullies into the sea.
The push and pull,
the curl of the currents,
the fold of light and water and mud.The river pertains to all things.
It carries the story of the man I once loved,
who had lanky arms and a fumbled step
and faith in a God I did not believe in.Over time the river digs and curves.
It shifts great shoulders and pulls back from the sea,
empties its mouth of clams and pockets
and translucent sand crabs
that scurry and click with …

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He’s not as he appears.
He’s all stripes and seduction,
charm and confidence,
oh and he will drag you in
if you let him.
He will slink about
and bide his time,
playing to your vulnerabilities
with that lulling and luring voice.And you’ll be no match for
his hypnotic watch swinging
back and forth,
back and forth,
back and forth.You poorpoorpoor thing.
It’s too late for you now.
How could you have known
that those sweetly smiling lips
hid sharp shining teeth
only waiting to consume you
with calculated relish?
And those claws just revealed?
You never stood a …

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Approaching echoes of
listless voices tiptoe across the rooftops
from a drowned city.
Shifted sands expand a body of strays
and shoves her beyond bordersOcean has swallowed her breath – weakened
her pulse, exhausted and shaken she
continues to reach where her limbs have spilled over
At the corners of an island, she curls her fingers
over crag and digs in with her nails.To claim and strain to stayEchoes wash over her body
as she stands, the wake breaking upon her chest
Deepest songs her chords can muster will
Lead her worn and waded body back under rooftops
of …

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Pink skirts shouldn’t walk
by themselves past nine.Street lamps stretch
a gray mirror more
breakable than the sun’s.Darkness released. Miasmic
in the air, I suck it up my nostrils.
It pools
above my lower eyelidsunblinkable. Men swirl like steam
out of my peripheral.
The mass of them suddenly
a solid contradiction
of my softness.The shake of rabbit
eyes quake down my curved back
until I escape across
the last three cracks.Lights flood him
from behind, he waits
for me in the door.
Gallant arm bridging it open.Fluorescent medicine
untangles my unease,
but I never forget that …

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The word queer used to be considered derogatory. Now, it may be more acceptable to refer to someone as queer than as homosexual. “We in a sense are reclaiming the dignity that we’ve lost over the years by having that word used against us,” says Mike Grewe, co-chair of the Queer Student Cultural Center. “Queer in itself is a much more broad term then GLBT because when you’re talking about GLBT you’re talking about gay, lesbian, bisexual, [and] transgender, when in fact there are so many gray areas to gender and sexuality.” Those who developed early psychology definitions coined homosexual …

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Hundreds of people bundled up to bare the cold and cheer on riders in an urban ski and snowboard competition which was held before most ski resorts had even opened for the season. A three-story scaffolding launch, grinding rails and trucks of snow drew a crowd of ski and snowboard enthusiasts to the parking lot behind Stub and Herb’s on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota campus Thursday, Nov. 17. The event, sponsored by Red Bull and Oakley, included two free showings of the snowboarding movie “The Community Project” at Oak Street Cinema. Following the film, skiers and …

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The University of Minnesota hosts countless academic lectures and debates, but not many of these events come with U of M Police Department security patrolling the entrances and aisles. In a stuffy and crowded, University Law School, lecture hall on Wednesday, Nov. 16, John Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, took part in a debate over presidential war powers. Formally, he debated against John Radsan, president of the Iranian-American Bar Association and associate professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law. Informally, Yoo faced an unfriendly audience, …

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