Kieran's Irish Pub Moves Across Town

WHEN I ASKED KIERAN WHAT IS his favorite drink to drink at his own pub, he immediately replied: "I've been drinking for 34 years, I don't...No! 39 years! Beer, beer, beer. Since I was 15 I've been drinkin'. Smitticks [Smithwicks], Guinness."

Find out more by reading Block E Goes Brogue by Gregory J. Scott in The Downtown Journal.

Bright Lights in the Night Sky, My Chance to Use NASA's Satellite Tracker!

THE STARS AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGHT, deep in the heart of...RAMSEY, MN! It's true! I slept over at my parents' place this weekend and right before I hopped into bed the night of February 26, 2010, I looked up at the night sky. I like to do this whenever I'm out in the 'burbs because, as a city-dweller, I don't often get the chance to stargaze.

But what the heck? There was a star pulsing like all the others, but was pulsing red, blue, green, and white! I didn't immediately think UFO, but I did think it was the International Space Station (ISS) and I got very excited about that.

There were two other not-as-prominent blinkers in the sky that seemed to be pulsing red and white. But I concentrated on the brightest, most colorful spot. I zoomed my camera in as far as it would go and propped it up into a pair of binoculars so I could get the above video footage (sorry it's so shaky -- that's me, not the lights). Then I got online to find NASA's ISS tracker to see if that's what I was seeing for sure.

That colorful blinking light, sadly, was not party time on the ISS. Ok -- so what was it then? Most likely a satellite, spinning and reflecting light which made it appear to be blinking. But we live in the future now, so during my internet search, I was able to find out exactly what satellite it was -- as well as what those two other ones might be.
This neato NASA Skywatch 2.0 java applet (click the Skysearch tab) was a helpful search tool that "provides information you need to view the International Space Station, the Shuttle (when it is flying), and any of seven other satellites from wherever you are in the world."

The list gave me three sightings for that night:



One was for the FAST satellite. Because of the colorful waves eminating between Earth and the satellite in the official NASA image to the left, I tend to think this is the satellite I saw. FAST was launched on August 21, 1996. According to the website, "FAST's one year mission duration will be highlighted by this period of intense spacecraft and scientific activity. The measurements made by FAST will address a a broad range of scientific objectives in such areas as: Electron and ion acceleration by parallel E-fields, Wave heating of ions-ion conics, Electrostatic double layers, Field-aligned currents, Kilometric radiation, and General wave/particle interactions."

Another possible satellite was AJISAI (EGS). Click that link and get a load of all 318 mirrors on that disco ball. According to the link, "Ajisai is Japanese for Hydrangea. Prior to launch, the satellite was called Experimental Geodetic Satellite (EGS). The Ajisai mission has two primary objectives. The first objective, which was short term, was testing of NASDA's (now JAXA) H-I, two-stage, launch vehicle. The second and primary long term objective was to determine the exact positions of the many isolated Japanese Islands. Ajisai can also be used for directional and photometric observations, using the mirrors equipped on the surface of satellite." This is also a good candidate for what I saw because, according to Wikipedia, "There is a flash produced when the sun's reflection from one of the satellite's mirrors crosses an observer's position on the earth. Due to the satellite's rotation, and the changing geometry as the satellite moves along its orbit, EGP produces several of these flashes per second. EGP can take up to 18 minutes to cross the sky.
EGP's flashes are visible in binoculars if the observer is on the nighttime side of the planet, and the satellite is in sunlight while its orbital trajectory takes it above the observer's horizon. These conditions are often met in the hours after sunset, and the hours before sunrise. When EGP enters the earth's shadow, the stream of flashes abruptly ceases."
And the final option is a satellite named COSMOS 482 DEB. I'm pretty sure this is not the one, though perhaps it is the cause of the smaller red and white spots I saw. What's pretty interesting about this satellite is that it is no longer really a satellite. According to NASA, its status is DEBRIS, hence the DEB in its name. It was first launched March 31, 1972 and, according to The Planetary Society, COSMOS 482 was a failed Venus lander mission. "The final stage of the rocket carrying the spacecraft into orbit failed and it was unable to achieve the necessary trajectory to carry it on to Venus."

Pavek Museum of Broadcasting

Written in 2002

THERE ARE MANY HIDDEN TREASURES in Minnesota, but I was flabbergasted to find such a prize in St. Louis Park. Like most treasure chests, The Pavek Museum of Broadcasting isn’t easy to spot. Hidden among the unimpressive offices of an industrial park, The Pavek Museum mistakenly follows suit as a plain brick building. Only until you are inside and surrounded by the unique collection of television and radio memorabilia will you realize that you’ve found the X that marks the spot.

Upon entering the museum, a television camera that could hold it’s own against a German U-boat towered over me and took up most of the space in the lobby. Stephan Raymer, managing director and one of the museum’s enthusiastic tour guides, asked what brought me to the museum on such a nice day. “Sheer boredom,” I answered. Raymer started the tour by showing clips from an episode of Axel and his Dog, a children’s television show that first aired on August 5, 1954. I walked a few more feet into a hallway where a collage of Howdy Doody memorabilia crowded around a thick, cream-colored television. The Howdy Doody Show fizzled onto the screen; Clarabell teaching children, and Buffalo Bob, math with canned foods in perfect black and white. The sketch faded and I was lead into another room, slightly bigger than the lobby. Once again greeted by caricatures of today’s appliances, I was able to see how advanced the refrigerator-sized record players of the thirties really were. And how wonderful would it be to have one in my own home, to look at and listen to everyday?

“Stand back,” Raymer said, as he plugged in a rotary spark-gap transmitter (telegraph machine) from 1912, not unlike the one used on the Titanic. “It’s pretty old and I don’t know how it’s going to act from time to time.” I stood back, watched him plug in a cord and hand-crank life into the giant machine and create sparks on the spider web-like antennae. My boredom had extinguished. This is the only object that I was told to stand back from, by the way. Mostly visited by children on school fieldtrips, The Pavek Museum teaches children about past technology and are also given the opportunity to make their own radio shows in the authentic 1950’s radio booths. Despite having such a rare exhibit, this is the most interesting hands-on museum I’ve been to.

There is a final giant room in the museum lined with old radios that represent the first 50 years of radio. You’ll have a chance to listen to them too, but not before winning points on the genuine quiz show television set. “Mickey, Mighty, Minnie, and Speedy Gonzales are all famous examples of…” Raymer acted as television host after I stepped up behind the quiz show podiums and viewed myself in the television monitor. I buzzed in on my buzzer, very similar to the thumb clickers on seen on Jeopardy, and answered nervously into the console microphone, “MICE!” I got twenty points for that. If the tour had been over then, I would have been completely satisfied. But I was then guided to a strange device in a corner of the museum. Upon turning on the device, my tour guide began waving his hands near the metal bars protruding from it. “It’s a Theremin,” he explained while trying to play a song. I found it was easier to make it whine like a police siren, but I felt like I was putting on a little magic show by not having to touch the instrument at all to make it work. The perfect museum object, now that I think about it.

Joseph Pavek, the man for which the museum was named, was Bing Crosby’s sound engineer, and so another rare piece the museum has is Bing Crosby’s first recorded music. Of course you are able to listen to it, on the original tape and the original machine it was recorded on. I never knew that radios from the thirties had remote controls, either. But here, of course, I was able to give one a try. The storage room of this place is not unlike the government warehouse scene at the end of Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, which shows a never-ending room of anonymous crates. The storage room at the Pavek is likewise filled with old radios, television sets, and an old weather antenna made from the nosecone of a B-52 bomber that used to reside at the top of the Foshay Tower. The walls are covered with old signs, including rust damaged WCCO letters, and a barely used sign from TV Heaven 41. The Pavek holds a surprising amount of unique items and is a sure cure for boredom—unlike my television and radio at home.

Found! Bone Zodiacs Leather Armband

July 7, 2010 UPDATE: Reunited and it feels so good.
After receiving an email from a lovely member of the Inland Empire Lady Zodiacs, I am happy to say I will be sending this armband home to its rightful owner, Bone, this week. What an unexpected and exciting project this was! It seems as if this armband has been logging plenty of miles, whether on the arm of its owner or not. If only this armband could talk -- I'm sure it and its owner would have many travel stories to swap.

UPDATE: Thanks to my readers, I have found out that Zodiacs is the name of the motorcycle club, or M.C., and Bone is more than likely the name of one of the members. Inland Empire is a region in California, southeast of Los Angeles. I am currently waiting for a reply from their president in the hopes I can get this patch back to its original owner.
Check out their awesome club!

SOMETIMES PEOPLE BRING THINGS into the office in the hopes other people in the office will help get rid of it. Halloween candy comes to mind first. Heck, finding a used pair of slippers in the breakroom would come to mind before what I found last week.

A large palm-sized piece of black leather, boldy hand-painted in school-bus yellow immediately caught my eye against the greys and cold blue hues of the office lunch area. I picked up what looked to be a patch of some sort and found that it was an arm band. Attached to the sides of the leather with brass studs, a tough, thick band of elastic loops around the back. It would look at home over the arm of a leather biker jacket.

As you can see, the armband announces something called Bone Zodiacs and specifies in smaller hand printing, Inland Empire. I'm guessing that its original owner has the initials M.C.

A co-worker found this in a rental car in California a few years ago and tried to find the armband's owner as best he could. He held on to it for a while until it ended up in the lunchroom, not orphaned for long. It's a pretty interesting piece of leatherwork, and I'm quite curious to find out what the Bone Zodiacs are, and where the Inland Empire is.

There is a message on the back. If this is your patch, tell me what the message on the back is and I will happily return it to you, if you want it.

Ben Franklin: In Search of A Better World, at the Minnesota History Museum

1.17.10 UPDATE: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEN FRANKLIN!
In honor of Mr. Franklin's 304th birthday, the Minnesota Historical Society has recently added another fascinating artifact to Ben Franklin: In Search of A Better World. This late edition to the exhibit is a rare draft of the U.S. Constitution -- it's a version that is older than the hand-written document in the collections of the National Archives.

I LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON AT THE MINNESOTA HISTORY MUSEUM'S Ben Franklin exhibit: If I ever decide to curate a show about Ben Franklin, I'm going to fill a room with things he didn't have a part in creating. It will be easier that way.

The guy pretty much invented para sailing, for pete's sake -- he'd float in the water while flying a kite because he enjoyed being pulled around in the water. This is one of his lesser-known kite experiments, of course. I guess he really liked kites.

With that, Ben Franklin: In Search of A Better World, opening at the Minnesota History Museum on Friday November 27, has many interesting surprises along with new ways of looking at the more commonly known Ben Franklin facts.

There are interactive displays throughout, including touch-screen choose-your-own-adventure style games in which you recreate Franklin's trek from New York, south along the Eastern seaboard, using up shillings to buy food and passage. Here's a tip, kids: don't pick the option to sleep in the flop house. All your food and money will get stolen.

Besides his affinity for lightening, Franklin may be most well-known for being a printer (or creating libraries or organizing fire departments). A touch-screen printing press demonstration is part of the exhibit, which is in the same room as Franklin's actual printing equipment and publications.

There are many Franklin originals in this exhibit, including his books and even his wallet which hides a receipt for rum, as well as an original item that belonged to Franklin's father, who was a soap and candle maker. Much like the red and white spiral poles denoting barber shops, Franklin's father used a big blue ball to represent his store. The MNHS has this ball on display.

The original one.



This exhibit is host to an oddly touching reunion, one that involves Franklin's china breakfast bowl and his silver spoon, gifts from his wife. At some point the bowl and spoon were separated, perhaps filling exhibits at separate museums. For this exhibit however, after being separated for 100 years, the bowl and spoon are reunited and share a clear protective display box.

It's difficult to not list each and every object in this exhibit, as every item is fascinating. But, in keeping with Ben Franklin's lifelong lust for learning and discovery, I will leave you to head over to the Minnesota History Museum in St. Paul to make some discoveries of your own.

If anything, though, just go to experience the fan chairs.


Visit my entire photoset from this exhibit on my Flickr page.

When you visit MNHS, be sure to check out another of my favorites called Open House. Here's what I have to say about it, as published in City Pages:

"Open House: If These Walls Could Talk," is the recreation of a house that still exists in the Railroad Island neighborhood of St. Paul. The Minnesota History Museum is always bursting with hands-on exhibits, and "Open House" is no exception. Upon entering the house, every object in the Victorian-era living room begs to be touched, including a piano that acts much like its stage-fright-addled owner. Each successive room is dedicated to a later era and other families who lived there. In the bedroom there is a sign on the pink chenille-covered bed that says Sit On Me. Sitting on the bed awakes an audio recording of a woman telling a hilarious—and startling—story about a troublesome bed she owned when she lived in the house in the '50s. Even the littlest objects trigger stories and home movies. The dining-room table has an amazing setting, which will only whet your appetite for more stories and delightful surprises.

Follow MNHS on Twitter!

Minnesota History Center
345 Kellogg Blvd W.
St. Paul MN 55102-1903
651-259-3000, 651-282-6073 (TTY)
800-657-3773 (toll free)

$10 adults, $8 seniors and college students, $5 children ages 6-17; free for children age 5 and under and MHS members.

Hours for Museum and Stores:
Tuesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (free admission 5 to 8 p.m.)
Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

Closed Mondays except Monday holidays year round (open Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day). Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's day.

Library Hours:
Tuesday noon to 8 p.m.
Wednesday through Friday noon to 5 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

Closed Monday, Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekends, and major holidays including the day after Thanksgiving.

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at The Dakota Jazz Club

"DEAR MR. ALPERT," SAID A WOMAN FROM THE SECOND FLOOR. She began speaking before the applause died down after Herb Alpert's final song at The Dakota Jazz club this past Tuesday. At the very beginning of his show he insisted that the mood be very casual and he encouraged questions from the audience, "but no song requests."

"Dear Mr. Alpert! Dear Mr. Alpert!" She said again, and finally Mr. Alpert looked up. The woman then told a story, starting with the fact that she had been a nun. It was 1968, and she said that A Taste of Honey "wafted in through my cloister window" from across the way one night, "and it inspired me to leave the seminary."

The applause was deafening.

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall react to a former nun's story

But let's get back to the beginning of the show.

The opening act is worth mentioning: Mr. Smooth Irv Williams. I found out that Mr. Williams has been a mainstay of the Minnesota jazz scene for over 50 years. So what does that make him? 90 years old! He plays at the Dakota every Friday during happy hour from 4:00 - 6:00. He'll be playing in the evenings at The Dakota in January or February as well.

Herb Alpert and his wife, Lani Hall of Brasil '66 fame, are touring to promote their first recorded project together entitled Anything Goes (warning, instant audio). As the title eludes, the album includes new takes on old classics, such as Fascinating Rhythm, It's Only A Paper Moon and I've Got You Under My Skin.

After his first song, Alpert asked if anyone had any questions. A hand went up and Alpert called on a fellow. I'd like to note how polite the Dakota's audience was that night -- the fellow stood up to ask his question. "Sir, is it true you and Tom Jones met the Queen together?"

To which Alpert responded, "How did you know that?" Alpert then told how in 1974 he performed for the Queen, but was instructed not to acknowledge her during the performance. If she liked what she saw, she would send a note after the show. Sure enough, Alpert received a note backstage. "I forget who else was there," said Alpert. "Ginger Rogers or somebody like that." The Prince told Alpert that he liked his music and listened to it in the palace den. This surprised Alpert, not because the Prince listened to his music, but the idea of what the den in the royal palace could have possibly been like.


Alpert and Hall then played an especially sultry rendition of Let's Face the Music and Dance. "First, Lani and I became friends," said Alpert, telling a story of when they first met and later when they became a couple. "This is an angel from another planet," he said. "She's from Chicago and she changed my life for the better." Hall then sang a very slow version of That Old Black Magic. She noted the fast version made famous by Louis Prima, but said she wanted to "slow it down in order to really understand that lyric." At many points during the show it was clear that Alpert and Hall still have quite a bit of magic in their marriage -- throughout the show they hugged and smiled at each other, and at one point she sat on his lap at the piano.

Hall did most of the singing at The Dakota that night, backed up by a driving rhythm section. Alpert added vocals here and there, but mostly trumpet flourishes whenever he wasn't taking over the melody. Toward the end of the show he took out an instrument he developed himself. "I called the guy, I paid to make it," said Alpert. I didn't catch what he named the instrument*, but it's two trumpets in one. One bell is sans mute, and he pulls a "trigger" to switch between muted and unmuted trumpet sounds.

There were more questions for Alpert before the evening ended, including "What is your favorite song?" Alpert couldn't really answer the question fully until he finished his next song, which must have jogged his memory as he ended it in an improvised flourish of This Guy's In Love. He was reminded of a story. "I called this friend of mine," Alpert said. The friend was Hal David, and at the time he had just written a song called This Girl's In Love. Alpert asked him if he could change the gender and some of the lyrics. In the studio, Alpert got the recording in one take.

It's no wonder Alpert is still going strong -- not only has he reinvented the music he's playing, but he gives songs sex-changes and turns nuns into the marrying type. It would seem that his trumpet's big bells rival his own.


*Update: That twin-belled trumpet is called the "Gemini." Thank you to Scott Allman, "CherryStreet" on the Beat 0f The Brass TJB Forum, for that bit of information!

Micachu and the Shapes via The Walker Art Center

IT WAS ODD NOT TO SEE THE YOUNG band rushing back to the stage after what must have been a solid five minute frenzy of applause and foot stomping. The wood floor at the Cedar Cultural Center in the Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis was taking a fine beating, for sure. The very place that Mica of band Micachu and the Shapes described as, "The most dignified place we've played."

Here it was, roughly 45 minutes after their first song and the audience wanted more of lead singer Micachu, a diminutive blond tough, and her band The Shapes. Of course they did -- the music was jaw dropping, futuristic, and demanded at least a bounce and bob. And when they were finished with their set of what Micachu categorizes as Pop music, I wanted more, too. Even when, at one point of the show when she adjusted her ukulele-thing to be perfectly out of tune. The audience groaned in agony; I felt a bit of excited anticipation. How was this going to work?

Micachu, aka Mica Levi, is in her early twenties and has been writing and playing music since she was four. The band was invited here from London via The Walker Art Center. From the program: "She is classically trained and is best known for experimental music in a variety of genres. Levi was born in Surrey (1987) and raised in Bow, East London...While a student at Guildhall, Levi was commissioned to write an orchestral piece for the London Philharmonic Orchestra which was performed at the Royal Festival Hall in April 2008."

With a background like that, it's no surprised she made a wildly out of tune Uke ultimately sound great. It worked. And it was exciting.

Mica's Shapes clearly have a great time on stage, too. Raisa Kahn plays the Midi keyboard, cowbells, and cymbal. Marc Pell is a drum machine. The both of them also do backup vocals. They're a young lot, like I mentioned, but they are a complex rhythm section to be sure. A few of us in the audience stopped bobbing, hypnotized by the synchronized blast of electronic blips, cow bells, a small zither (zina?) backing up Micachu's modded, heavily strummed over-sized ukulele-looking thing.

And here we were, begging for more of it. Our shouts remained unanswered. Turns out they couldn't decide on what their encore should be. Lucky for us they figured it out eventually. They had to dig way back to some earlier material.

I'm sure they have many more dignified performance venues in their future -- let's hope more in Minnesota, too. In the meanwhile, find their album Jewellery on iTunes. My favorites at the moment are Calculator, Wrong, and Guts.