The Wake

The first hints of nicer weather in the current season make us Minnesotans do very strange things. There’s a special brand of optimism that we’re imbued with, a mild delusion that persuades us that temperatures that are barely above freezing qualify as “sweatshirt weather” provided the sun is up. Some brave souls were even spotted jogging in shorts during last …

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Indie Rock’s hype-to-backlash machine has such an impressively quick turnaround that it’s a wonder Palm Beach, Florida’s native sons Surfer Blood even had a chance to release their debut record. The band quickly gained critical acclaim following an impressive showing at this year’s CMJ festival with a raw, muscular and distinctly noir-ish take on ‘90s indie power pop. Comparisons to Weezer trail the band, but Astro Coast contains so much more than a retread …

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As a Minneapolis cyclist, I do my share of whining about the conditions of our city’s bike infrastructure. The roads are a veritable minefield of potholes, the city’s priority level on bike lane upkeep seems to hover somewhere below stop-sign graffiti removal, and I have no clue what the city planner was on when they decided to put a …

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As spring semester gets underway, plans are being put together for this year’s installment of the University of Minnesota’s annual Spring Jam event, albeit with more tension and preparation this time around. The now-infamous Spring Jam 2009 proceeded as usual until riots broke out late Saturday, April 25, and continued into the next day. About 500 students took to the streets in Dinkytown on the 1300 and 1400 blocks of 7th Ave. Revelers set several …

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Try something new. Do something different. Change someone’s life. The Twin Cities are home to thousands of nonprofit organizations seeking volunteers to help them make a positive effect on the community. No matter the cause, there is an organization that exists for each person, all he or she needs is the desire to get involved.

The following nonprofits are some of the more unique organizations in the Metro area, but there are plenty …

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Video games are stereotypically cast as the bane of a productive, sociable existence. Yet, this image hardly matches the one seen every Saturday in Stephen Pfister’s Apple Valley home. The room is packed with some 20 odd people, mostly male, of varying age, ethnicity and profession, all chatting pleasantly about game nuances, jobs, girlfriends and the occasional wager on a …

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Shane Vader and Clara Salyer engage in the proudest of high school band traditions for their weekly meetings: the Taco Bell run. Over what may well be the most questionable of foodstuffs, the two discuss life, music and, most importantly, their record label: the recently established Afternoon Records subsidiary Personal Best Records (and yes, they are aware of the irony of …

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