“I Am More of a Wayne County and the Electric Chairs Sort of Guy Myself”: A comprehensive look back at 2011 at South 12th (Part 2).
In the world of contemporary art: The city you live in is full of abandoned factories and old, crumbling robber baron mansions. First we kiss mannequins, then live models, then New York curators. It’s not too late for leftists to co-opt flags with pine trees on them. The emotional realities of the art-for-tattoo-work economy of the early ’00s. Using applied mathematics to help with your projects. A preview of October’s “2012 U.S. Cities Contemporary Art Rankings: A New Hierarchical Approach” performance at Art Of This.
Meanwhile, around Minneapolis: A (very subjective) Minneapolis reading list. The unattractiveness of the city seen from automobile (excepting neon liquor store signage). Walking through a blizzard to mope with Bryan Ferry and Jucy Lucys. Looking up the entry for “Minneapolis” on foreign-language Wikipedia pages, and then reflecting on the city’s mid-century decline. My early days at The Rake, and some of the people I met there. The station wagon that brought me here, and the Friendster testimonial that sent me on my way. In fact, I’ve been here for as long as The Current and Surly. Questions raised while planning a solo camping trip in Isanti County prompts a government shutdown revenge fantasy, and a new state seal to accompany it.
Nostalgic fun for old people that used to have subscriptions to Magnet magazine: Failure, Drown, Nice and Pork just aren’t Google-able. Double points for odd, lingering rumors that Calvin Johnson remains an active user of Makeoutclub to this day. A dream that we’ll be bigger than the Vulgar Boatmen. We’ve got t-shirts and tapes for sale, and be sure to stick around for Farm Rescue. Not much more to add about my hero Christina Billotte, except this. Five nice memories of R.E.M., the favored band of both cool uncles and college girlfriends. Related to R.E.M.: the unprovable delusion that Michael Stipe was the first to put up Christmas lights as everyday indoor decoration — and months later, a tentative resolution.
Other unclassifiable high-concept undertakings: I spent nearly the entire month of February discovering how to use GarageBand, and then creating SOUTH 12th MYSTIC SOUNDSCAPES, VOL. 1: SOUNDS OF THE SEA. I stand by all of them, though “Boiler Deck Talent Showcase” and “Underwater Bowling Alley Catastrophe” remain my favorites. There were a series of imagined recaps of the show Glee, which are almost offensive in their sheer ridiculousness (though who could have imagined that by the end of the year, Vaclav Havel would be dead, and Michael Fassbender would be a superstar). Through the last half of an exceptionally tough winter, I created a Snowbank Atlas. Lastly, some regular readers wrote some very funny, very convincing fake South 12th posts (1, 2, 3, 4) in celebration of this blog’s third anniversary.
Miscellaneous favorites: Related to Wisconsin, dating, observation decks, t-shirts, Wikipedia, fake tattoos, Henry A. Wallace, cameras, dinner dates, commerce, marriage proposals, birthdays, jazz, katzenclaviers, and not just one, but two posts about Lyndon B. Johnson.
And of course: a new website.
