land of tiny apples and miniature sodas

At a party last week in Minneapolis..

...a fellow comes in with a pickle and and 3 prong plug. We go into the basement, he sticks the prongs on either end of the pickle, sticks the plug into the wall. The pickle lights up! Don't try this at home unless you are a culinary electronic geek. They wouldn't let me eat the pickle.

YEARS AGO IN Minneapolis....

There was dark stain in the concrete where the Vietnam Vet who lived upstairs had fallen drunk one night and cracked his head. Ian and I, where living in a basement with low ceilings, the rent was amazingly cheap. I was making giant frog puppets for The HEART OF THE BEAST PUPPET THEATER,in a old blunt working-class art deco theater on Lake Street. For $10 you could have two pizzas and a pitcher of year.or was it one pizza and two pitchers of beer? Progressive drinking nights at bars, the drinks go up 15 cents every 5 minutes. They start at zero. My first Eastern European punk band PUSH PUSH CARNIVAL was planning on moving here. I was astounded amazed to go to Nyes, my favorite bar ever and watch the the ancient polka band, led by an old lady who is helped onstage, stepping up onto a chair. They are in gritty side room. The main room of is filled with classy magical vinyl seating and chunky lights and has an amazing piano bar where old people would sit and drink and sing. I loved this place.

It is too flat for me in Minneapolis, and too snowy, and too cold. After the first big snow, Ian and I sit in in the 2 pizzas/one beer place, where he is working as a buser. We watch a drunk man holding onto a bumper and let himself be dragged down the street.

I was disturbed by the architecture downtown, which was a series of mirrored buildings. Mirrors reflecting mirrors into a sort of architectural singularity. But it makes sense, If you have a job down town you can spend the entire winter without going outside, the buildings downtown are connected to walkways. You could be home, get into your car in the parking garage and then to work and back. There is no outside of buildings for you.

You have to be aware of building in New YOrk. They are batteries. It's like walking around giant batteries, you are always aware of their kinetic potential to leap up and form themselves into giant robots.

RIGHT NOW IN Minneapolis

I am in Minneapolis working on an amazing play by Lisa D'Amour called Marsupial Girl, at the Childrens Theater Company. I wrote hip-hop west texas slide guitar harmonica stomp. It is one of the best things I've ever worked on. The whole crew is amazing. John Heimbuch of Walking Shadow Theater, who saw me at the First Avenue Dresden Dolls show sets me up a solo show at Acadia. Lovely fellow.

The parties here are too well lit and polite or they are sleazy and drunk, no in between.