Mayda to play New Century Theatre

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Home grown phenom, funk rocking vocalist-songsmith par excellence Mayda (www.imaydasong.com) has star power stamped all over her in block letters. She has, in fact, ever since her debut Stereotype was released in 2008, continuing to consistently impress with The Interrogation, Tusks ‘N’ Fur and, now, Busy Signals. Her upcoming performance at the New Century Sessions series, smack dab in the middle of downtown Minneapolis, should go a respectable way toward sustaining momentum and establishing just the sort of next-step, high-profile traction she deserves around these parts.

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GLOBAL GROCERIES | Sports, whiskey, cool technology and food

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I got the Call of the Wild late last month. The Minnesota Wild invited journalists and local VIPs to the “See the Big Picture” event, to show off new digital renovations at the Xcel Energy Center. Of course, when new fancy technology isn’t enough to bring in the curious, just add free food and drink and a connection to St. Paul city pride.

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Minneapolis sinks Columbus Day

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Today Minneapolis joins a short list of cities no longer recognizing the second Monday of October as Columbus Day.Earlier this year, the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Betsy Hodges signed a resolution recognizing the second Monday of October as Indigenous People’s Day. The decision places Minneapolis as just the fourth city behind Seattle, Berkley and Los Angeles to replace Columbus Day with an American Indian celebration.“The City of Minneapolis understands that in order to help close the equity gap, government entities, organizations and other public institutions should change their policies and practices to better reflect the experiences of American Indian people and uplift our country’s Indigenous roots, history, and contributions,” the city’s resolution states.Idle No More Duluth organizer Reyna Crow said she first heard of Indigenous People’s Day in the ‘90s. “I think that [Columbus Day] is an insult to not only Indigenous people, but all people of conscience who believe we need to tell our children the truth that a federal holiday celebrating a trafficker and torturer of women and children, and a murderer still exists,” she said.Crow said she plans to celebrate by attending Augsburg College’s event I am Not a Mascot, which will feature a panel discussion focusing on issues of concern to the Indigenous people of Minnesota, their allies, and a musical performance.“The event is being held to educate and network with people interested in, or organizing around a variety of issues with a common link, and to promote greater cross cultural understanding of the concerns that those of us working to confront racism and racial inequities are dealing with that might not be obvious to all audiences” Crow said.At the Minneapolis American Indian Center, the city is holding a community meal from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with indigenous foods from throughout North and South America provided by Native chefs Sean Sherman and Cheo Smith, a film screening, community speakers and cultural performances.Celebrations broke out over the weekend as well.Felipe Cuauhtli hosted Indigenous People’s Day Hip Hop Showcase at First Avenue on Sunday, Oct. 12. The event was originally known as Anti-Columbus Day, Cuauhtli said, but they changed its name in order to reflect the resolutions passing in Minneapolis. “The reason for doing this is to talk about colonization and how colonization has effected not just native communities,” Cuauhtli said. Continue Reading

Minneapolis and utilities establish unique “Clean Energy Partnership”

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On Oct. 6 a public hearing took place at City Hall to review tentative utility franchise agreements reached between the City of Minneapolis and utility companies Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy. The agreements, if approved by the Minneapolis City Council on Oct. 17, would set in motion a first-in-the-nation, public-private “Clean Energy Partnership.” Proponents said the partnership between the city and utility companies would aim to meet the city’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and make energy more affordable, reliable, efficient and renewable, as laid out in the city’s 2013 Clean Action Plan.Franchise agreements are negotiations to determine conditions in which private utility companies can use public property to provide services in the community. Fees are negotiated and paid by utility companies to the city, in exchange for the use of public right of way, such as streets and alleys.The previous franchise agreements between the City of Minneapolis and utilities were made 20 years ago, and are set to expire at the end of 2014; the agreements mostly covered public right of way issues. Continue Reading

Metro Transit promises more, better shelters; Community members remain skeptical

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A new goal to construct and renovate bus shelters in low-income neighborhoods has been met with skepticism rather than excitement from some community members.Metro Transit announced through Metro Council last week that they are the recipients of a $3.2 million Ladders of Opportunity grant — part of which will be used to construct and renovate bus shelters in Minneapolis and St. Paul by the end of 2015. Officials said with more and better shelters, they hope to increase ridership, and improve safety and comfort.“The goal is to install up to 150 new shelters, add amenities such as heat and light at up to 75 existing locations and to replace 75 to 100 shelters in Minneapolis that were privately owned and maintained until earlier this year,” said Metro Transit Public Relations Specialist Drew Kerr.Kerr said that the grant will be combined with a local match of $815,000 from Metro Transit, contributions from state legislature, and money left over from the Green Line Project. Altogether, he said, they should have $5.8 million to fund shelter improvements.According to the Metro Council website, that money will be focused on Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty (RCAPs), a term that refers to areas where more than half the residents are people of color, and more than 40 percent of the residents have family incomes less than 185 percent of the federal poverty threshold.Kerr said Metro Transit has identified north Minneapolis and east St. Paul as areas to focus on. Continue Reading

Arts meets politics: Twin Cities artists share their outrage over Ferguson

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After Minneapolis poet David Bayliss witnessed the Ferguson riots on television earlier in August, he felt the need to express his outrage through his art. Now he wants to give other local artists a chance to do the same.This Sunday, Oct. 12, Bayliss and about a dozen local and national artists are hosting a night of performances at Patrick’s Cabaret in south Minneapolis. OUTRAGE: Writers respond to Ferguson aims to provide an official space for local artists to share their reaction to the ongoing racial tension re-sparked by the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri earlier this summer. The event is co-sponsored by Patrick’s Cabaret.“I had this energy that I just needed to get out there. Continue Reading

Rep. Rick Nolan uses “turds” to describe past Minnesota water quality

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Yesterday’s 8th Congressional District candidates debate in Duluth between Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL) and challengers Stewart Mills (GOP) and Ray Skip Sandman (Green) touched on several topics, including social security reformation, gun regulation and oil pipeline expansion. But the highlight of the debate was easily when Rep. Nolan used the word “turds” to help prove a point as he described just how bad Minnesota’s water quality used to be.Rick Nolan: “I grew up in a time when the lakes and rivers were so polluted that they were catching on fire. The Mississippi River where we lived, why, you’d go down there in the spring and there’d be toilet paper, condoms and turds hanging on every branch. And that was the good stuff, that wasn’t the toxic stuff. And you had to haul drinking water into Duluth. Continue Reading