Clouds - Zach Sobiech
Zach Sobiech, whose goodbye song ‘Clouds’ touched millions, dies
Zach Sobiech, a terminally ill Minnesota teenager who touched millions of people with a farewell song he wrote to his family and friends, died Monday morning.
When he was told that a rare form of bone cancer had left him with only a few months to live, the Stillwater High School senior wrote a song titled “Clouds” in which he said good-by to the people around him. “Maybe someday I’ll see you again,” he sang. “We’ll fly up in the clouds and we’ll never see the end.”
Originally recorded on Sobiech’s cell phone, the song caught the attention of professionals who helped him record a studio version. It became a sensation, garnering more than 2.9 million YouTube users and making Sobiech an international media celebrity, with stories about him appearing everywhere from Billboard magazine to the United Arab Emirates Press.
Sobiech, who turned 18 on May 3, was found to have osteosarcoma in 2009, when he was hobbled by pain in his left hip. He underwent multiple surgeries and months of chemotherapy before being told that the cancer had spread to the point that the best that doctors could hope for was to slow the disease’s progression.
His death was announced on his Caring Bridge web page in a simple statement saying, “He was surrounded by his sisters, brother, parents and girlfriend. We love him dearly.”
Story via StarTribune, you can donate to Zach’s fund here…
http://www.childrenscancer.org/zach/
20th May 2013
Notes: 89
Love Is The Law - The New Standards
Today the Minnesota House will vote on whether gay couples can get married in Minnesota. If it passes, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill on Monday, and Gov. Mark Dayton says he will sign the bill, which would allow weddings between same-sex couples starting on Aug. 1.
Chan Poling of legendary Minneapolis band The Suburbs, proposed that the group’s 1983 hit, “Love Is The Law” become the unofficial theme song for the movement to legalize gay marriage in Minnesota.
Here is a jazz infused cover of Love Is The Law, by Chan’s current group, The New Standards.
Let’s make love the law, you guys.
Played 198 times.
Twin City Auto Show and Market Week Style Revue (1925) via Minnesota Historical Society
The CC Club: An oral history
The CC Club has long been a drinkers’ haven in south Minneapolis, a dim intersection of different scenes and people from across the city. Few establishments in the Twin Cities have seen more glasses emptied, cigarettes smoked, or strangers find each other.
But the neighborhood is changing. In a part of the city once defined by its independence, expensive condos crowd the streets and corporate chains have pushed out local businesses. Earlier this year, the owners of neighboring restaurant French Meadow bought the CC, and will officially take ownership on May 1. The new managers say they plan to keep the bar the same, but some CC regulars are skeptical — perhaps because the French Meadow is an organic bistro, and the CC is a seedy dive bar. Or maybe it just seems inevitable that a place like the CC Club can’t last forever.
click pic for great article by City Pages
Prince Appears On The Cover Of Rolling Stone For The First Time 30 Years Ago Today
The first notes of the Minneapolis sound were heard in a big brick house in North Minneapolis, an aging, primarily black section of town that draws outsiders only to the Terrace Theater, a movie house designed to look like a suburban backyard patio, and the Riverview Supper Club, the nightspot a black act turns to after it has polished its performance on the local chitlin circuit. North Minneapolis is a poor area by local standards, but a family with not too much money can still afford the rent on a whole house. It was there that Bernadette Anderson, who was already raising six kids of her own by herself, decided to take in a doe-eyed kid named Prince, a pal of her youngest son, André.
click pic for full article
- Camera: Nikon D800
- Aperture: f/2.8
- Exposure: 1/100th
- Focal Length: 18mm
Reblogged From emdunker
Mule Skinner Blues - The Fendermen
So, today is “Record Store Day” which got me thinking about Musicland, which was founded in Minneapolis in 1955 (basically became the biggest record store chain in America), by brothers Amos and Danny Heilicher. The brothers also started a record label in 1957, “Soma Records”. During it’s short run, Soma Records was best known for the smash hits “Liar, Liar” by The Castaways, and “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen, both groups hailed from Minneapolis.
Another song Soma Records help make a hit nationally was a cover of “Mule Skinner Blues” by The Fendermen, which hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960.
The Fendermen were Jim Sundquist and Phil Humphrey who met as students at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in the late 1950’s. Their Wikipedia page says this on how they came up with their group name…
They called themselves “the Fendermen”, because they both played Fender guitars (a Telecaster and a Stratocaster), and they connected them both to the same amplifier. Interestingly, these guitars were the only two instruments used in the Fendermen’s recording of Mule Skinner Blues; they were played with such skill and precision that the inclusion of a bassist and drummer, typical of most groups of the period, was not necessary.
Have a great Record Store Day, and always support local music businesses and bands, you guys.
Played 81 times.
Marcy-Holmes rings in new fest
The Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association is hosting a new music festival to bring together residents, University of Minnesota students and other members of the community.
The River Bells Music Festival will feature live music, dancing, free food and a bike parade outside the First Congregational Church of Minnesota the first week in May.
The festival will feature folk, blues and classical music, but centers around the carillon — collectively, the bells in the First Congregational tower.
Support for the festival comes from a $5,000 TCF Bank Stadium Good Neighbor Fund grant, which was created after the building of the stadium, said Mercedes Tuma-Hansen, coordinator for the festival.
“Essentially I think it’s kind of their penance for creating this big, obtrusive thing … to try to offset that by making it a stronger community, too,” she said.
Just Announced: REBEL, REBEL - ROCK FOR PUSSY X
A Tribute To David Bowie to benefit Feline Rescue in the Mainroom on Friday, May 17 (8pm/18+). Tickets on sale Friday at noon.
Toast to the Land of 10,000 - The 4onthefloor
Played 90 times.