Family Day brings fun and community spirit to North Minneapolis

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The late-summer heat wave didn’t deter the crowds from coming out to celebrate the Minneapolis Urban League’s 24th annual Family Day, Saturday, August 31. Family Day filled the streets of North Minneapolis with a fair-like atmosphere, a timely morale booster given the recent violence in the community. It was a festival with a purpose, as housing, employment, health, and fitness resources were on hand, in addition to food, games, and entertainment.The festival kicked off with a parade that began on Xerxes Avenue N. and Golden Valley Road, and showcased a diverse mix of participants—from praise dancers to motorcycle clubs.  Parade watchers Richard Warren and Shirley Jaiyesimi (photo below) came from Coon Rapids to enjoy the festivities. “I wanted to get out of the apartment and see what’s going on in the community,” said Warren, from a choice spot under a shaded oak tree.  Richard Warren and Shirley Jaiyesimi enjoy the parade in the shade.Abby Mathieu, who walked the parade route as a volunteer for Minnesota State Senator, Bobby Joe Champion, has attended Family Day almost every year.  “It’s good to see everyone—my neighbors and friends. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | City View residents celebrate new soccer field, razing La Montaña

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This past Monday, August 5, over 70 residents of City View apartments and their supporters gathered to celebrate the razing of La Montaña and the installation of soccer goals and a grassy field for neighborhood youth and families to play on. The neighbors were joined by councilmember Don Samuels, and the event was covered by Jessica Miles and Channel 5 news.Soccer players thank councilmember Samuels for his helpLa Montaña sas a 30 foot tall pile of construction debris, nearly as high as the three story tall City View apartments next door. The construction rubble was left over from when the Heritage Park housing was built several years ago. Hidden behind the weeds was a hangout where men partied, slept and drank. The hangout was littered with beer cans, liquor bottles, bedding, toilet paper, underwear and used hypodermic needles. Continue Reading

THEATER REVIEW | The Lab Theater’s “When a Man Loves a Diva” lacks panache despite the boa

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Percy Sledge wrote: “When a man loves a woman, he can’t keep his mind on nothing else. He’ll trade the world for the good thing he’s found.” With that said, Mary Kelley Leer, Sanford Moore and Dane Stauffer’s When A Man Loves a Diva inspired title had me hoping for a performance that would keep my mind on nothing else. Although there were a few “Viva la Diva” moments, the “musidramacom” (yes, I made that word up) played out inconsistently on its opening night on Thursday, July 11th at The Lab Theatre in Minneapolis’s Warehouse District.Now in its fourth run, When A Man Loves A Diva is a compilation of classic pop/rock (and a couple of country) standards made epic by their diva performers including Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand, Gloria Gaynor, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and more. The songs are sung by a notable trio of male performers–each one an award-winning “star” is his own right with deep roots here in the Twin Cities theater scene (details of their careers can be found in The Lab Theater’s website). Ben Bakken, Julius Collins and Dane Stauffer are three of the men who love divas and sing their tributes. Continue Reading

THEATER REVIEW | “Hair” by 7th House Theater Collective: The most beautiful beast in the forest

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7th House Theater Collective’s production of the 1960s rock musical Hair is a high energy, pansexual, anarchic, lovably weird piece of ensemble theater. It’s a full-body immersion in another time.  It’s foul-mouthed, race conscious, and likes to show a lot of skin. It’s a wonderful example of how a group of artists can truly work together as a team and build something that’s fun to get lost in. From the opening strains of “The Age of Aquarius” to the closing notes of “Let The Sunshine In,” it’s clear the collective has assembled a roster of powerhouse vocalists to belt out these tunes.  The live band is also going to town on these songs.”A poor little psychedelic teddy bear like me.”Really the only thing that’s keeping Hair from being a great piece of theater right now is the sound mix. It’s not for lack of trying: the guy running the sound board is getting just as much of a workout as the performers. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | FLOW Northside Arts Crawl releases call for artists for 8th annual event

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FLOW Northside Arts Crawl seeks artists of all genres, ages and experience in the North Minneapolis Community to be a part of this year’s Art Crawl the weekend of July 26th – July 28th. FLOW Northside Arts Crawl is both a community celebration and premier art event in North Minneapolis. FLOW is a non-juried, self-guided tour of studios, galleries, theaters, commercial and vacant spaces over a mile and half of North Minneapolis’ main business corridor. From b-boys to ballet, graffiti to graphite, rap to rhapsody, fine artist to artisan, practicing to professional, FLOW showcases the great art being made every day on the Northside.  This year, FLOW is expanding to a full weekend! Experience evening preview events Friday, July 26th, an exciting day of indoor and outdoor events along West Broadway from the Mississippi River to Penn Ave N on Saturday, July 27th and extended gallery hours the entire weekend of Friday, July 26th – Sunday, July 28th.  FLOW typically draws a crowd of 5,000 community members, art enthusiasts, neighbors and families.  FLOW is accepting proposals from Northsiders to exhibit or perform in select venues along West Broadway as part of the Northside Arts Crawl July 26 – 28th.  The organization is also seeking proposals for public art, interactive installations, artist booths, parade entries and art-making activities along West Broadway.  FLOW defines artist in the broadest possible sense of the word and encourage emerging artists and innovative ideas for community engagement. FLOW will match artists with participating locations along the route of the Art Crawl or artists may propose site-specific work. Possible locations include (but are not limited to) businesses, storefronts, vacant spaces, building exteriors, organizations, pedal stage, and outdoor locations. Continue Reading

Northside Achievement Zone hiring mostly Northsiders, nontraditional approach seeks workers already ‘connected to the Zone’

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Lucretia Gill is a connector. She talks to families with children in North Minneapolis to determine their family’s goals, and then she connects them to the organizations that can address the challenges hindering them from reaching their goals.Last year, Gill was a personal care attendant (PCA). She now works for an organization that has added 42 new positions over the past year — 32 of them filled by Northsiders — to the North Minneapolis job market.Gill had previously been one among the hundreds of families in North Minneapolis that the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) is charged with reaching. Through NAZ, her son had attended a childcare facility that prepared him for kindergarten through a Race to the Top scholarship. Her other three children attend NAZ anchor schools within the Zone, the geographical boundaries of the city that NAZ works within.“I came in contact with NAZ through my children’s school at Harvest Prep,” Gill explains. Continue Reading

MUSIC PHOTOS | James Blake at First Avenue

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London-based producer James Blake performed to a sold-out show on Wednesday, May 1st at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Those who arrived later, missed a solid set by opener FaltyDL. FaltyDLJames BlakeCoverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading

Minneapolis Fifth Ward candidates talk municipal energy, environmental concerns

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What if Minneapolis just didn’t renew the 20-year contracts with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy that are coming up at the end 2014? Boulder, Colorado is on its way to do just that as they look toward terminating their contract with Xcel, joining cities across the country that have municipal energy utilities, such as Los Angeles, San Antonio and Austin, Texas and Moorhead and Rochester in Minnesota. Minneapolis Energy Options (MEO), a coalition seeking to expand the energy options in Minneapolis, believes Minneapolis needs to look at all our options. They held a forum with City Council 5th Ward candidates on April 9 at the Minneapolis Urban League, to talk about the possibility of municipal energy as well as other environmental concerns.MEO currently has a campaign to get a resolution endorsed through the Minneapolis caucus process that would put a ballot question up for voters next fall about authorizing Minneapolis to “research, explore and pursue the option of converting our energy utilities to city ownership, if such a transition would create a more reliable affordable and clean local energy system,” according to the resolution.Meanwhile, the city council is looking at pursuing $250,000 study that would measure the costs and challenges of municipal takeover of gas and electric. The measure was approved in committee on April 4th, according to MEO. According to a staff report from the City council, state law limits the city’s authority over utility in franchise agreements, but Minneapolis is seeking legislative changes to “allow negotiations with Xcel and CenterPoint to explore how Minneapolis could make progress towards its goals for sustainable energy, improved air quality, equity, and green jobs,” according to the report. Continue Reading

Many North Minneapolis homes on April 27-28 tour

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At 2814 Aldrich Ave. N., various Urban Homeworks crews, and professionals who are donating their time, are scrambling to put the 1.5-story house back together and make it available affordably to a new owner.Karen Soderberg and Steve Harvey, in Bryn Mawr, are wrapping up a couple of years of hard work finishing off their new second story. The contractor prepared the shell and an architect redesigned most of the home to get a new kitchen, bath and mud room on the first floor; in addition to a master suite and extra room on the top floor.Tom and Sandy Walker, in Homewood (at top), had built an entirely new one-level house on a bet that they could meet a certain budget…and would have, if they hadn’t fallen in love with top-line kitchen appliances. It has expansion room in the raised basement, and the home fits in with the craftsman and early 1900s homes nearby.These featured homes, and about 50 others throughout the two cities, will be open Saturday, April 27, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, April 28, 1-5 p.m. for the Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour. The tour encourages people to remodel or expand, and provides resource referrals, as real people in real homes share their real ideas with visitors.It’s also billed as a celebration of city living and a chance to check out neighborhoods. Continue Reading

Ian Alexander announces candidacy for Minneapolis City Council 5th Ward seat

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VoteforIan.com is the website, the man behind it, Ian Alexander, is running for the 5th Ward Council seat as incumbent Don Samuels chose to run for mayor rather than another council term.(The other formally-announced candidate is Brett Buckner; coverage of his announcement was in the January 23 NorthNews, now online at MyNorthNews.com, under “news archive.”)Alexander says business development and job creation are his priorities. On his website, he said, “Everyone agrees that one of the largest impediments to revitalization on the Northside is crime. But crime is often a symptom of something larger: the lack of economic opportunity.”He told NorthNews, “The issue is we’re still losing population. Parents’ children reach school age and don’t qualify for the schools they want to send them to, they move. I have friends, African American professionals who’ve left the Northside, and that’s a problem.” Even though education is outside of the control of the city council, paying attention to economics can do a lot to improve the overall climate, Alexander said.There will be meet-and-greets for the candidate Ian Alexander:Wednesday, Feb. Continue Reading