As I write this, my back aches, my eyes feel heavy, and my homework lies in its typical state of non-completion. And yet I look back on my packed weekend not as a waste of my time or college money, but as a startlingly inspiring cultural experience. Every time I venture out to attend a local rap show, I am awestruck by the way I feel during the show, and carry that with me through the next few days. The shows I wrote about last time proved to be some of the better rap shows I’ve …

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Two great hip-hop shows going on this weekend with two of Minneapolis’ finest underground MCs:

Heads know that Muja Messiah has been in the game for a minute, but not until recently has he gotten the press he deserves. Muja was just Picked To Click by City Pages, coming off the heels of his latest release Thee Adventures of a B-Boy D-Boy, a refreshing blend of street knowledge, political musings and straight bangers. The release show for that album earlier this summer was one …

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Crowds were battling for the latest papers…. On every corner, in every open space, thick groups were clustered; arguing soldiers and students…The Petrograd Soviet was meeting continuously at Smolny, a centre of storm, delegates falling down asleep on the floor and rising again to take part in the debate, Trotsky, Kamenev, Volodarsky speaking six, eight, twelve hours a day…”
— Jack Reed

Róger Calero, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. President, probably envisions a future of America not …

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You have the opportunity to see some top local artists this week without any strain on your pocketbook, amazingly enough. I know you all are terrible cheapskates and won’t get out of your TV chair unless an event costs little to nothing, so here you go:

You should already be well aware of the Athletes In Slacks show tonight, because I’m sure you’ve all been keeping up with this blog with fervent passion, so I shouldn’t need to remind you that they are playing with Beatrix*JAR and …

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Tonight at the Uptown Bar, Cecil Otter, Building Better Bombs, The Millionth Word and Person Hurter are playing a show in support of their buddy who broke his collar bone after being body slammed by a large man. Ouch. Show starts at 9:30, 5 bucks at the door, all proceeds go to Andrew “FOOD HEAD” Troldahl and his unfortunate situation.
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It was a sad day when Isaac Hayes …

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The RNC is over but, as ever, there are a myriad of ways that you can become more involved in your community! As members of the dynamic, multicultural Twin Cities, there is room for everyone to contribute to bettering our society, whatever your passion. Here’s some ideas on how you can get started!

NEIGHBORHOOD

Rather than taking on the whole city, a good place to start effecting change is in your own backyard! Your neighborhood association, community center and local public school are all good places to look for volunteering opportunities right around the corner from your house. Minneapolis Parks and Recreation …

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Genius: Jeffrey Hahn, Assistant Extension Entomologist in Urban Entomology

Motto: “No Jitters from Critters”

The Wake: When I hear the word “entomologist,” I think of butterflies being pinned into glass cases. What is the field of entomology really about?

The Prof: There is actually a lot going on in entomology. There is a lot of applied research; People research crop pests, bed bugs, pests of landscape plants, and so on. We also have basic research, which is not necessarily going after a specific problem but can often lead to helpful information for us.

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You’re chain-smoking outside a cocktail party on a Saturday night and the conversation turns to politics. Chances are at least 90 percent of the well-spoken socialites around you are pulling their information straight out of their asses. Today, The Wake will help you become a part of that other 10 percent. I know, I know – making opinions based on actual facts is a fresh and dangerous idea. But that’s what we’re all about here – fresh and dangerous.

On Conservation and Energy

John McCain (R): “I believe climate change is …

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I like to think I didn’t arrive at the University of Minnesota as a starry-eyed, giddy freshman. I took classes my entire senior year of high school at a college, so I knew relatively what to expect when I arrived on move-in day. I was even excited about Welcome Week, an introductory program instituted this year for incoming freshman such as myself. I thought it would be great to be on campus for a week without any classes and only my fellow freshman as neighbors. I wanted to keep an open mind. That is, until I saw the schedule of …

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Photos by Matt Miranda and Scottie Tuska

D-day. Convention week. September 1st-4th. Republican Christmas. Call it what you will, the atmosphere in St. Paul that week was truly bizarre. Amongst the commotion surrounding the MSNBC Free Speech Stage® a Tucson cop buys himself a hocked McCain-Palin T-shirt. A man in a suit claims to be McCain’s second choice for VP. A group of antiwar feminists decry the nomination of Sarah Palin and a group of radical Christians chant passages from the Letters to Corinthians. If we’re all doomed to hell, then what was that place?

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Blending the lines between play and musical, the Guthrie’s latest production “Old Wicked Songs” may get you to turn off the TV and check out a real theatrical production. There is no other play in the Twin Cities where music speaks as much as the actors do. The cast is comprised of two top-notch actors and a stage, reminding the audience of the importance of music among politics and current events.

“It’s a beautiful, funny and poignant play,” Peter Rothstein, director of “Old Wicked Songs” said. “Though this is not a musical, music is a central character in the play.”…

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Pop music is shamelessly obsessed with love. From the “my baby left me” blues of the early 20th century to the “He’s the kind of boy you can’t forget” language of girl group invasion, love has been on the mind of many a musician. The Kerchief wearing heartthrob of a frontman Arthur Lee is no exception to this fondness of infatuation. Lee and his rock and roll outfit Love were manifestly
conceived within the boundaries of the themes listed above. On the bands 1966 self-titled debut, Arthur Lee and Co. bash through fourteen disparate tracks that are coherently fused as a …

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The debut Doomtree album has been a culmination of many years of building, growing, burning bridges and grinding teeth, symbolized in the piles of black books, show flyers, scribbled notes and candid pictures adorning the album’s liner notes. You can hear the work in the songs: It’s clear that each song on the CD traveled a tough road to be deemed worthy.

If you’ve been following the group at all, you’ve probably heard a good amount of these songs in concert, and you may well have bought their False Hopes …

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Ian Andersen is doing interviews with Japanese magazines. He and his mates from One for the Team have been trotting the country for several months and, after a quick break in Minneapolis, will continue on to the east coast where they’re already fairly well known. Two of them attend the U of M. They’ve put out two records (Good Boys Don’t Make Noise and Build Up), live in Dinkytown, and drive a fifteen-passenger van to their shows. What’s more, Ian claims that playing Minneapolis is “a bit of a crapshoot” because the city has yet to take notice of their …

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