Get Surly in a can

That's right. Beginning today, Surly Bender and Furious are available to the masses. Or at least more of the masses. For months, Omar at Surly had said "No bottles, never." Oh he's a tricky one! Four packs of 16 ounce cans can now be found in your local liquor store.

Listen to some music, then doorknock your ass off

So where were you the morning of October 25th, 2002 when you heard the news? First you heard about Paul, then Sheila, then Marcia, then "campaign workers," then Mary McEvoy, then Tom Lapic and Will McLaughlin, then the pilots. I believe my mom called and told me, but frankly it's all kind of a blur. Dylan was born 10 days earlier, and I was intimately involved in the DFL State Senate races. My grandparents were coming over to visit that afternoon, and I was trying to take in the deaths of three of the most influential people in my political formation, Paul, Sheila and Mary. But I held it together and doorknocked my ass off. Ironically, it took Joe Soucharay's touching column (seriously) about Paul a few days later for me to be able release the floodgates. Like most of my friends, the next 13 days were some of the most sad and bizarre and exciting ever.

And this Wednesday is the 4th annual Wellstone World Music Day. If you're able, go check out some live music. Or have some friends over to play music. Or at least put on your favorite CD and remember.

Then go doorknock your ass off.

Summit admits errs, lets fans sneek a peak

Summit Brewing has recognized their mistakes in planning last month's Big Brew, apologizing for the long lines in ads published in several weekly news magazines. President Mark Stutrud went one step further in a letter to supporters, offering them opportunity to keep tabs on their work via a webcam of the Summit Ratskeller.

Great message guys, and even better marketing. I'm back on board.

(I never really left!)

Hatch: Our Pitbull

Many of my friends have sworn off Mike Hatch, embracing Hutchinson as a more comfortable choice. And it makes me ask, is comfortable 4 more years of republican control? Mike's a pitbull, but he's a pitbull with a heart. And more importantly, he's our pitbull.

And really, who cares about what kind of guy he is? The fact is, Hutchinson can't win. He's been hovering at about 6% for three months now, and I just don't think the same people that voted for Jesse are going to vote for Hutchinson. So all the votes of my friends (and people like my friends) might push him to, say 8% or 9%--hell I'll even give him a shot at 17% for conversation's sake. But I just don't think he has it in him to pull off an upset.

He will however tip the election to Pawlenty. And is that what you want to be a part of? To my Minneapolis friends, you're already voting for Ellison; doesn't that solve your core liberal itch?

And it's hard for me, working in early childhood. Hutchinson is the only one who has laid out any resemblance of a plan, offering to put $100 million into early ed programs. Even Pawlenty and his staff have not been horrible to work with. And I gotta admit that Hatch just hasn't seemed like he's very interested in making it a center piece of his campaign.

And that's just fine with me.

So to those people considering voting for Hutchinson: get off your high horse, and think this through. Give it some good thought about what it really means. This is a close race, and while I don't like to ever ever accuse anyone of "throwing away" their vote, that's essentially what you'll be doing with a vote for Hutchinson. But even more so, this state needs a pitbull, a pitbull like Mike Hatch to get it on the right direction.

Ruff.

Summit Big Brew = loooong lines

I hate to be a hater, especially since Summit has been doing some amazing things in their industry recently, like introducing a bunch of new beers, including some cask style ales. But when asked what most people will remember from this past weekends' Summit Big Brew, I would hedge to guess that most people will say, "the long lines." For both beer and bathrooms. Half hour lines for a $5 pint of beer. Fifteen minutes to use the can. It seemed liked Summit didn't think people would be interested in drinking beer at their 20th anniversary party. Or more likely that they didn't think over 10,000 people would show up on a beautilful fall day to hear some great music.

(Not one to offer criticisms wthout some solutions, here are some suggestions: After you solve the quantity issue--more kegs, more servers, more porta-potties--how about a free beer token for everyone with a ticket? Or better yet, reduced prices, especially if you have to wait in line for 30 minutes. )

And the music. I missed the early side of it, namely Tapes N' Tapes and the Alarmists--next year think of offering re-entry--but the Suburbs and Soul Asylum rocked it. We should have left after Soul Asylum, but hindsight being blah blah blah, we had to see Cake. I've seen Soul Asylum like 20 times, so I was ready to get my world rocked by Cake. And when they were playing they did just that. But then the lead singer would feel the need to talk for about five minutes between each song about the mirror ball that didn't work or how musically-uneducated the audience was. Way to kill the groove, guys. More play, less talk.

Well live and learn. Next year--if there is one--will be the Best Beer/Music Fest Ever. The potential is huge, and Summit deserves to meet it. I'll even volunteer to serve beer (actually I did this year and no one got back to me....)