Only one day after coming back home from Comic-Con I was off again. Not for more nerdy adventures, but headed north to reunite with Bessita for the latest stop on the Free Yr Radio tour.
I arrived in Minneapolis at 7 in the morning off of a red eye from LAX. I had to wait until 10:30 before I could pick up our Yaris and my motel was out in the suburbs (and I couldn’t check in until the afternoon) so I took the train into downtown to pass some time and find some breakfast. Little did I know that downtown isn’t the most happening spot at 7 something am. Eventually I found a weekly paper with a ‘Best Of’ list and decided The Bad Waitress was the place I needed to eat. Being unfamiliar with the transit system, I charged myself to walk the eighteen blocks to get there. After the long, long trek I arrived and had one of the best omelets I’ve ever had.
Eventually, I was able to go pick up the car and get some much needed rest. The Yeasayer show at Urban Outfitters didn’t happen until the next day, so I had a day to recharge and get to know Minneapolis. After a much needed nap, I explored the city. The Twins were playing the White Sox that night, so I took in the game. Afterwards, I wandered around town, stopped in a couple places for a drink and took a cab back to my motel for a full night’s sleep.
The first order of business on Wednesday was to pick up Blue Bunny ice cream at Big Bell. As usual, I got to talking to the other ice cream men there loading up and they were thoroughly charmed by little Bessita. Once I was loaded up to the brim, I set out to The Current radio station to thank them for helping put together the concert. Little did I know that The Current is within the entire Minnesota Public Radio building. More overwhelmed than I expected to be, I thanked myself for loading up as much as I could. While giving away ice cream to the masses, I was interviewed for The Splendid Table on public radio. I was told later that The Go Team was in the building, but I was still the most famous person there. That’s fun.
After getting a much needed lunch at White Castle, I made my way over to the show. It wasn’t scheduled to start for a few hours, so I waited for everybody else to set up while the line of people looked over forlornly. Once things were ready, they let people come out of the line to get ice cream and take photos in the Good Magazine Yaris, as well as pick up buttons and such from the lovely ladies heading up the Free Yr Radio and Good Mag tables. I was able to get through almost all of my treats by the time the show started. Figuring I could get rid of the rest pretty quickly, I stayed outside for a bit, enticing passersby.
Not getting rid of as much as I thought, due to there being almost no people on the street, I headed inside to check out Yeasayer. I had listened to them on Myspace before I left and liked what I heard. They describe themselves as “Enya with bounce” on their Myspace. I heard a little more Duran Duran. Live, they were a lot more rocking than I expected. The keyboards and synth elements were way more subdued and the guitars and drums were in the forefront. I thought I liked them before, now they’ve become one of my favorite new live bands. Not to mention, they have damn catchy melodies to go along with their driving beats. Maybe more like Enya rocking the f*ck out.
In no time I was able to get rid of the remainder of my ice cream stock to the sweaty masses leaving the store. I had to give up Bessita so she could travel on to Philadelphia, so I headed to The Bulldog for some cheese curds and a brat and indulged myself in some good old fashioned Premiums before heading back to the motel, satisfied with my Twin Cites getaway.
