Smokin' Weed and Makin' Money

 

So here were are.

The deal is that I've got too much fucking stuff that I think people ought to hear and not enough time or space in which to do it on one blog.

I've also been in the Twin Cities for a long ass time and have seen, heard and played with so many really good bands that it seems a shame that nobody has heard them. So I've made this even dumber blog thing to flog the local tomfoolery for your dancing and dining pleasure.

Even in Minnesota, they could really give a rat's ass about your local band until you get enough recognition somewhere else that they'll proudly claim you as "From Minnesota".
I mean, if you take someone iconic like Bob Dylan, who generally needs no introduction, he's inevitably referred to as "Minnesota Native Bob Dylan" any time he's brought up on local media.

It's kind of annoying, but leads us into this inaugural post.

Soft Rock (2002)

Once upon a time there was a band called Lifter Puller. They existed for six years and put out three albums and a handful of singles in that time and then broke up.

Two of the guys moved to Brooklyn and started the Hold Steady which people noticed.

Minnesota then proceeded to remind everybody that they used to be from Minnesota and the Cds started getting expensive where before they were like three bucks tops locally.

Life is funny that way.

But this is probably the best place to start this shit show.

This double disc postmortem set pulled together the lion's share of their already obscure and dispersed discography into one tidy package for easy digestion.
 
It's wordy as fuck, but full of more quotable lyrics than half a dozen other records you might name. It's as close as I get to rap and spoken word that I can listen to more than a few times without getting bored.

A guy I was in a band with couldn't stand them because his previous band practiced down the hall from them and they'd spend two hours at a go working on just one song so he was already sick of everything before they ever played it live.

I myself missed out until their final show at the Weisman Art Museum, but that was a heck of a show to have been at.

C'est la vie.