Road Work Ahead

On a stroll through town I heard a fellow walker say to his companion "downtown is under construction". Well, yes that would be an understatement. One bicyclist passing the Union Depot construction site mumbled "I hate this". Even my own condo is under construction as I am trying to finish painting walls before the winter weather sets in. Orange diamond shaped signs with Road Work Ahead are located everywhere downtown. Maybe I should have one of those on my front door. I've noticed that a few of those orange signs have added ornamentation in black and blue and shiny white....no doubt unauthorized by the city planners or safety sign makers. I like the one with the black and blue star even if it is not authorized. Maybe we could adopt it as the universal sign for Problems Ahead Just Go With It. Even as my own personal painting project is zipping along it seems that we are making speedy progress in downtown too. The Union Depot LRT stop on 4th St is taking shape. Will that be called the 4th Street Station? I bet the owners of the 4th Street Station Bar would like that. The skyway connection that was removed on Cedar and 5th is moving along this week too with its reconstruction. I remember the city saying that it would be done by November and I think that might actually happen. That connection is important for anyone wanting to get to the library or the Excel Center without having to set foot outside in the winter. It's not that I mind walking to the library outside. In fact I normally prefer it and I enjoy sitting in Rice Park across from the library before I return home. Has anyone noticed the lovely new garden and benches across from the library that the city constructed this summer? Earlier in the week as I sat there (it was getting darker by the minute), I noticed that the garden is completely overrun with mice....not unattractive mice exactly. No, I would say they were the cutest, tiniest brown mice I've ever seen. Beatrix Potter would have loved to capture them in a drawing or two and I imagine they too are busy with their own construction projects far below the new garden in Rice Park.

Blind Faith

Last weekend Concrete and Grass music festival played out in Mears Park. Did that officially signal the end of summer for us? I enjoyed Alison Scott's interpretation of Blind Faith's Can't Find My Way Home on Saturday night even though I wanted her to pick up the tempo just a bit. Friday night Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum (right after a rousing opera lover's hour) played an acoustic set to a full crowd. I know it wasn't just me who thought that he seemed unprepared....but strangely that was just fine, maybe even better than fine. A few times he played things that seemed like he hadn't practiced in awhile, shouted out to family members in the audience, started, stopped and restarted. Amazingly it all seemed fresh and unrehearsed, not just another scripted show like one from the night before. I remembered some of his songs from the 90's like Runaway Train and he threw in some interesting choices like Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy. I was shocked to see on the Internet that his bio says he is 47...can that be true? He seemed to have such a baby face, but it was dark in the park....yes, very dark out and the moon was nearly full and little bats were flying around keeping the remaining summer mosquitoes from festival participants. Some in the audience were clearly creeped out by those little bats but don't they really do us a service flying up from the caves along the river to keep the bugs under control. Days before I was watching the old Francis Ford Coppola version of Dracula from 1992 staring Winona Ryder....say, didn't she use to date Dave Pirner in the 90's? Was that the role that got his attention? I had just read the book as part of my attempt to try to tackle some old classics from the BBC's poll of reader's favorites. The movie tried to follow the book (with a twist) in ways the old Bela Legosi version did not but the acting was, well, just plain silly. Still I couldn't stop thinking about all those bats enjoying the teeming masses in the park just like Dracula....just remember that "he cannot enter (your downtown condo that is) at the first unless there be someone of the household who bids him to come; although afterwards he can come as he pleases!!!"

Red Bull Barge

Red Bull brought a floating skateboard park via barge to the river this past weekend. A barge actually seems like a perfect place for a skateboard park....listen up parks and rec people. Sunday starting about noon twenty or so athletes each had 2 one minute runs to show off their tricks and skate skills. I watched more than a few tumble onto the concrete deck. Hope they got those kids to sign liability waivers. There's going to be a few bruises. The objective for the athletes is a place in the finals of the Mississippi Grind competition to be held in New Orleans. RB will float their barge downstream to St. Louis this month finally reaching the Big Easy in October. RB workers were handing out product samples to the 100 or so spectators watching the action and I accepted my free can of Red Bull. Thanks RB. I've actually never tried one and I'm probably not their normal target market. I decided I would have to save it for another day since I'd already had 3 cups of coffee. Their advertisement says that "if you want to stay on top of things in this 24/7 world, you'll need some wings"....that sentiment must be the inspiration for the Flugtag event they host world wide. Last year they brought that event to Harriet Island and I watched it from the steps of the Science Museum arriving just in time to see a local team's homemade contraption take flight from what seemed like a pretty high perch on the RB barge, skimming gently across the river to break the world record. The estimated 90,000 people that showed up were ecstatic. It was a crazy blending of sports and science. Even the 4th of July fireworks doesn't compare with the crowd that was in downtown on that day. How do we get back on RB's list of host cities for that event?