The Wake

Sitting down with Mike Michel from the Bill Mike Band, I knew I was interviewing a blessing to worlds both musical and otherwise. In fact, it isn’t difficult to know Mike after seeing Bill Mike Band shows. The band’s recent Truce CD release show at the Cedar beautifully testifies to why. The energy with which Mike (guitar, gizmos), Chris (bass), and Steve (drums) played their unusual musical creations, clearly improvising some of the individual particulars …

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Doubts about the efficacy of recycling are well documented. Certainly recycling shouldn’t be our only defense against the consumption devil within every one of us. Throwing the debris of our overactive consumerism into a plastic bin isn’t going to single-handedly preserve the world. Relying solely on recycling is just a convenient excuse not to change our lifestyle. Reusing invites us to think more creatively about how to be small-scale conservationists. It also is more effective …

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Rich Americans spend countless hours using the technology to which we’ve so quickly become addicted. The current college-going generation is the first that grew up with electronics for the masses. As toddlers some of us were running around with gameboys in our hands. Now as university
students, it’s rare to find one of us that doesn’t claim our own computer, mp3 player, or cell phone. Personal electronics have become accessible enough for us to use them …

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Atop a lofty skyscraper, you sit in your office on a break with the window open. The reflection off the glass is a rich shade of green. Crowded railcars navigate their endless tracks like caterpillars. Solar panels gleam in the sun. The tops of buildings are green with plant life. Below, you hear only birds chirping, people chatting, traders swapping goods in farmer’s markets. The chaotic noise of the city and the relentless roar of …

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I hadn’t even finished a sentence when the guys from The Dad in Common started cracking jokes. The conversation that followed showed how much this instrument-swapping, name-sharing
union of musical forces feeds off each other’s humor. But strong bonds over a shared love for music underlay the laughs.

The Wake: Alright, so—
Andrew: I’m gonna need that blouse today. (laughs).
Jesse: That’s a good way to start.
Joe: Yeah start recording. (laughs).

The Wake: So you guys are The …

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As protesters filled the lawn at Capitol Hill to the seams, cameras landed in swarms, delegates
and party bigwigs paraded their candidates’ causes, and blank-faced onlookers with a delicate
half-interest lined the streets, the eyes of the nation and—daresay I—the world shifted to rest
upon our Twin Cities. And while the mass media, the lens that brought our cities into focus, have
the attention span of a young child, city leaders have salivated over the events of the Republican
National …

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