With the demise of Simon Delivers it appears the company was bought and is now being reopened under the Coborns Delivers umbrella.

The emails says:

You loved the lifesaving convenience of shopping at Simon Delivers. You’re really going to love the expanded selection and competitive prices CobornsDelivers brings to the neighborhood. 

Does anyone know anything about Coborns?

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When I was growing up there was a football saying “My two favorite teams are the Vikings and whoever plays the Packers.” It was a mantra of sorts that reinforced the VIking love and the Packer dislike and it may have even been part brainwashing to assure family members grew up to be Vikings fans.

I started thinking about this saying yesterday as I watched the Vikings play against the Lions. Truth be told, the Packers and the Bears have always had a greater rivalry than the Vikes and the Pack. Also, with the Vikes unable to muster a win against the Pack in what seems like years it’s really hard to feel that old rivalry fire.

 Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a new rivalry.

I was coached to believe football is a game of adjustments and a game of mismatches exploited for advantage; these are two core philosophies I’ve rarely seen followed by this Brad Childress led Vikings team. When an opposing team’s Defense comes out and runs an 8 man box and a barrage of blitz packages, you could adjust and make them pay, or you know; you could just try the same old play of running the ball up the middle and praying for a seam.  

At some point while watching yesterday’s game I had a sports epiphany. 

Maybe it was as I watched Leigh Bodden blow up the Vikings offense time and time again or as I found myself admiring the scrappy Detroit third string quarterback turned starter, Dan Orlovsky, lead his team with a cool confidence usually absent in rookies. Maybe it was as I looked at my three month old daughter sitting on my lap watching the game (and her dad) with wide eyes and wonder and I thought; “Is this the type of football I want her to love?”

Is it? I don’t think so and that’s why now my two favorite football teams are The Vikings and whoever is playing against Brad Childress; a coach with a  lower approval rating than Congress.

I mean think about it, this way, I get to see my two favorite football teams play ball each week and no matter what my favorite team will win.

Fair weather fan?  No way, I’m just making making some necessary adjustments.

I wish Wilf would do the same.

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At 6:30 pm, Loring Park will host a remembrance gathering for the 10-year anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death. His mother, Judy Shepard, will be speaking during the candle-light vigil, and afterwards, a benefit reading of “The Laramie Project” will be held at the Women’s Center. Proceeds from the reading will go to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an anti-hate group.

Matthew Shepard died 10 years ago yesterday, after being brutally attacked and tied to a fence post in freezing temperatures. I was studying in Spain at the time, and the newspapers were full of stories about him and his attackers.

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So, Connecticut has become the 3rd state in the union to legalize gay marriage. The fine folks of Connecticut came to this place via lawsuit. A number of gay couples, upon having their marriage license applications rejected, banded together and sued the state.

As you’ll recall, there is a group preparing to bring a similar lawsuit against the state of Minnesota.

It is the stated opinion of a number of Minnesota’s most-respected LGBT advocacy organizations — namely Rainbow Families/Family Equality Council, OutFront Minnesota, and Project 515 — that legislation is the way to go, not litigation.

Read on for the How and the Why…

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The 20th anniversary of Gaylaxicon just happened this past weekend in the Washington DC area, so it’s only a year until the convention comes to the Twin Cities for the first time. I’ve never been to one, but some friends of mine go every year, and for the TC event, they’ve talked me into helping out with it. We’re getting authors Margaret Weis, Andy Mangels and Lawrence Schimel in, as well as local out gay wrestler and Scooby-Doo comics writer, Terrance “The Spider-Baby” Griep as the guests of honor, as well as many local writers and artists. It’s going to be at the Saint Louis Park Doubletree on October 9th through 11th, 2009.

Today is the last day for early registration, so if you register for the convention today, you can save a few bucks. With which you can buy more beer. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?

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It is really easy to include art as an afterthought with all the crazy crap going on with politics and the economy. We have seen some local non-profits go out of business and the bigger arts organizations are also watching the economy - (Star Tribune Story)

Many of us are feeling the crunch ourselves and I know myself I can’t really afford to give to any local art organizations or buy from local artists. I just hope people can hang on until this crisis is over so afterward we can get back to business and start supporting the scene again.

In the meantime I do try to get out and support the scene by attending events and getting the word out. I have found these websites to be a good way to find out about what is going on locally and cool things to check out.

mplsart.com
mnartists.org

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Who knows how many nice days we have left this year, so my friends and I took advantage of the wonderfully warm weather, and walked around Lake Calhoun. The wind on the north side of the lake was taken advantage of by windsurfers when we started around; I counted 10 surfriders out on the water, just booking across. The leaves were amazing. Who says you have to drive out of the city to look at the leaves? We have our own arboreal firework display right here in Uptown. Get out there and look while you can, the Winter Carnival will be here before you know it.

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Not only is the soybean harvest disturbing their preferred environs, yesterday’s extremely warm weather brought out the Asian Lady Beetles in full force…including at my house.

A quick scan of Twitter shows this is happening across the country.

Asian Lady Beetles are often confused with ladybugs, but ALB’s bite, leave yellow stains and smell horrible when disturbed. Mostly a nuisance, there are instances when thousands infest walls and attics and may necessitate pest control.

If they aren’t that serious, some patience, caulk and a good vacuum will get you through the next week or so.

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Chris Baker’s Trifecta of Ridiculousness

1. On Tuesday this week Chris Baker of conservative talk radio station KTLK calls Barack Obama a “little bitch.”
2. On Wednesday of this week Chris Baker promotes a video of a pastor who calls Barack Obama’s mother “trash.”
3. Also on Wednesday of this week Chris Baker’s co-host Langdon Perry says Magic Johnson faked having AIDS, and Chris Baker agrees.

This woman in Lakeville today. From The Uptake:

Gayle Quinnel, a John McCain supporter says at a McCain Rally that “Obama is an Arab”. She is quickly corrected by John McCain who takes away her microphone.

Quinnel of Shakopee says she obtained the information on Obama being an Arab at “her local library” and from a pamphlet obtained at a local McCain campaign office (provided by a fellow volunteer not the campaign itself).

She has taken it upon herself to redistribute the information as widely as possible by making copies of the pamphlet and sending it to random names in the phone book.

I love how John McCain, refuting her statement, says that Barack Obama is “a decent family man, a citizen” as if Arabic people are not. Hello, fearmongering!

My antidote to that little old lady from Shakopee is this little old lady from Texas.

My head, it explodes. 

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Rainbow Families, our friendly neighborhood LGBT family organization (which became the Midwest office for the Family Equality Council just this summer), is having a its annual fundraising gala, the Fall Colors Masquerade. Saturday, 10/11, 7:30pm, at Solera. $50. For the low low price of $200, you can attend the VIP portion of the event which starts at 5:30. Semi-formal. “Masks encouraged.” I’ll be there, probably sans mask.

David already gave you the scoop on the Saint Paul Art Crawl.

Women Stand Up! A Comedy Cabaret - Stand-up Comedians Colleen Kruse & Miss Shannan Paul; Brave New Workshop Veterans Shanan Wexler & Katy McEwen doing sketch comedy; Fringe Favorite Storyteller Allegra Lingo; Legendary Poet and wit Phebe Hanson; and the Comedic Chanteuse Stylings of Diana B. Wilde. $20 or $15 with a Fringe button (this is the annual benefit show, so prices are a little higher than usual). Saturday, October 11, at Bryant Lake Bowl. Doors open at 9:30 p.m.; show starts at 10 p.m. For tickets and info call the box office at 612-825-8949 or visit www.bryantlakebowl.com.

Pillsbury House Theatre proudly presents Non English Speaking Spoken Here: The Late Nite Series on Saturday, October 11. Preshow reception begins at 8pm followed by the performances at 9pm. Non English Speaking Spoken Here: The Late Nite Series is curated by Laurie Carlos and co-curated by e.g. bailey. Performances are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets can be purchased at the door the night of the performance or online. All performances take place on the Pillsbury House Theatre mainstage at 3501 Chicago Avenue South in Minneapolis. This weekend’s lineup includes: Pramila Vasudevan, kim thompson, Katie Ka Vang, and Tou Saiko Lee. [complete details on the series and on this weekend's event] [purchase tickets]

This last one is mostly a reminder to myself that I have punches left on my Brave New Workshop Punchy Pass and I want to see The Lion, the Witch, and the War Hero; Or is McCain Able? before the run ends on November 8th. Need to see it before Election Day. That last weekend of shows could be pretty painful to sit through. Buy tickets online or call the box office at 612-332-6620.

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• It seems to me that the sort of person that would go to The Shout House wouldn’t so much be the same sort of person who hangs out on Twitter, but that could just be the circles I run in. If you are on of those people, you can now follow the Shout House on Twitter: @ShoutHouseMpls.
• Also on Twitter, @barackobama_mn, if you’re into that sort of thing. Which lead me to the Minnesota Tax Plan Challenge, which will show you (very roughly) how your taxes will be affected by each presidential candidate’s plan (assuming either of them could manage to get their plan passed intact).
• Per electoral-vote.com, here’s how Barack Obama and John McCain are trending in Minnesota. Sorry, Greg, no numbers for Bob Barr. Also, pretty good (non-partisan) news summary on the front page there. Worth a daily visit.
• Twitter again: @techkaraokempls. The Tech Karaoke craze is sweeping the nation and Minneapolis is one of six chapters nationally. Next event is Friday, 9pm, at the U Otter Stop Inn. Open to all. [facebook event] [facebook group] [facebook fan page]
• At Minnov8, Court Paves Way for Publicly Owned Broadband. This is big. Not surprising that smaller, more rural communities with little access to broadband are leading this charge.

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It’s time again for a weekend of art with the Saint Paul Art Crawl Fall 2008.

A magical place where people will give you free wine, beer, and food and all that they ask in return is that you criticize their art and wander around their homes aimlessly.

Well, that and buy some art if you like it.

I usually show up with my posse that’s known as “Hey, it’s those Internet people.” and I’ve purchased something every year and end up meeting some really cool people. I even tend to get an interview or two, just for good measure. So if you’re an artist or know artists I should check out please let me know.

It’s a great time.

Times: Friday October 10, 6-10 pm - Sat October 11, 2-10 pm - Sun October 12, noon-5 pm
Places:Buildings

As usual, if you want to go or if you’re going to be there hit me up DM style and let me know.

We can walk around together saying “I don’t get it”.

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If you’re not at the bloginar or observing Yom Kippur, try this on Thursday.

Beyond the Pure: Readings by Writers of Color, is returning to The Carol Connolly Reading Series at Intermedia Arts (”Minnesota’s first and only ongoing series of public literary readings whose mission it is to provide a platform for writers historically excluded from traditional literary settings.”).

Beyond the Pure: Readings by Writers of Color
Thursday, October 9, 2008
7:00 PM at Intermedia Arts
2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis
Admission by donation; wine & beer reception to follow

Curated by Julie Bates & Carolyn Holbrook; hosted by Carolyn Holbrook

Featuring:
IBé was born in Guinea, and grew up between Sierra Leone, Chicago, St. Cloud, and the Twin Cities. Quite naturally, he lives in the Middle of the Atlantic…with a mailing address in Minneapolis, MN. Among others, he writes about the African Experience, both in Africa and in America. Bridge Across Atlantic, his first collection of poems, is a small dose of these stories.

BAO PHI has been a performance poet since 1991. A two-time Minnesota Grand Slam champion and a National Poetry Slam finalist, Bao Phi has appeared on HBO Presents Russell Simmons Def Poetry, and a poem of his appeared in the 2006 Best American Poetry anthology. He has performed in venues and schools across the country, from the Nuyorican Poets Café to the University of California, Berkeley. Currently he continues to perform across the country, remains active as an Asian American community organizer, and works at the Loft, where he creates and operates programs for artists and audiences of color.

SUN YUNG SHIN is a 2007 Bush Artist Fellow for Literature and author of the collection of poems Skirt Full of Black (Coffee House Press 2007); co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writings on Transracial Adoption; (South End Press 2006) and author of Cooper’s Lesson (Children’s Book Press 2004), a bilingual Korean/English illustrated book for children. She’s currently working on her second book of poems with the working title The Invisible Choir and a memoir of her immigration and naturalization. Her website is www.sunyungshin.com.

Funds for this activity are provided by the COMPAS Community Art Program through a grant from the McKnight Foundation. The Carol Connolly Reading Series is sponsored in part by The Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts, DreamHaven Books, Patrick’s Cabaret, SF Minnesota, and the University Club of Saint Paul.

Intermedia Arts on: [web] [facebook]

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When: Thursday, 10/9, 5pm
Where: Sweeney’s Saloon
Who: Special guests Chuck Olsen (on behalf of TheUptake.org) and WCCO’s Esme Murphy
Who Else: Anyone within reach of the word “bloginar”

A “bloginar” is an evening of live, in-person, information and conversation between bloggers of all kinds.

Kinda short notice, I know. But what else were you gonna do on Thursday? All y’all east siders better be there. I’ll be honest, I might not have made it all the way over there from Eden Prairie just for this event, but since I coincidentally have another thing in Saint Paul later on Thursday anyway, I’ll be there for the first 90 minutes or so. Come say hi!

The last event’s format went something like: mingling, Q&A, prizes, CBS local ad network pitch. I imagine this one will be similar (but if there are no prizes, don’t blame me). Complete details here. Chuck will talk about how to get involved as a citizen journalist, Esme will talk about blogging and covering politics online, and there will be a short SEO workshop. Mingling from 5-6pm, programmed discussion from 6-7pm. Make sure you RSVP.

Also see @wccobloginar on Twitter for details. The info is there, even if you’re not a Twitter user. If you are a Twitter user and have questions for Chuck and/or Esme that you’d like to submit, use the hashtag #bloginar.

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Along The Greenway, originally uploaded by epmd.

Go smoke some pot, hippies. I’m gunna go dump some paint in the river now.

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