Music and Movies in the Park!

I love the Current. I just had to throw that out there. They are involved in the planning and execution of two great events that I’ve attended now—Rock the Cradle (for kids and their adults) and Music and Movies in the Park. The park being, Loring Park, which straddles the divide between Downtown and Uptown.


My sweet Plum Wine and Sushi Delivery Bike. ; )

Unfortunately the evening was marred by tragedy spawning inconvenience that led Matt on an epic detour down highway 55 by bicycle so he didn’t need to stand around waiting for the buses that were to have replaced the LRT Hiawatha Route. . . no fun! But he made it and I managed to keep the sushi cool until he did, so crisis was mostly averted.



Being Early Scores us a sweet spot.

The band, Gospel Gossip, was awful. With the one perk of their performance being a guy in a billowing white shirt courting the speakers with an REM inspired dance repertoire. Luckily, the sushi was incredible, the plum wine was cold and sweet and the interludes between pre-performance, performance and film were DJ’d by Barb Abney—typical Current material: Eclectic mix of new, old, local and staples of most people’s music exposure.

The film for the evening, in keeping with the Paul Newman theme this year, was Cool Hand Luke, and watching it out under the mist wreathed full moon surrounded by other 20-30somethings drinking beverages of the fermented variety in a stealthy manner felt really nice.

The film itself started on fire at one point, but that was ok, the crowd took it in stride, it was quickly repaired by a “real technician” as Wacqhim (the actor that plays the part of the snake in a Children’s Theater production) informed us, and suffered no bs when it started again and there were people blocking the view of the screen.


11:10, we took off by bicycle for the Light Rail station, where we purchased tickets, and discovered that the next train would not leave for nearly an hour. Considering that our companions on the platform were giving off a thug/homeless addict vibe, alternately smoking blunts or nearly passed out and drugged beyond comprehension of their surroundings, we opted to instead bike home via a circuitous route that would allow us to avoid as many impoverished and crime ridden areas as possible.*

Other than the potholes, and fatigue, the ride was beautiful. The air was still, warm, and perfect feeling when traversing it by bicycle, a gentile caress. The absence of cars on the road was refreshing after a morning and evening filled with dodging bike blind drivers. An hour of pleasant two wheeled travel.

After a shower we tumbled to bed for a few hours of sleep.

*Metro Transit, you were a huge disappointment! What the heck is up with the crappy train schedules outside of rush hour! Why wouldn’t the ticket vending machine question whether you really wanted to wait an hour for the next train instead of selling you a ticket that expires before you would reach the opposite end of the line? I also have a message for the Downtown Improvement District non-profit that is managing our DT now. . .The DID Ambassador mitigating the unsavory elements at the LRT station at 11pm can not come soon enough.