Why Michele Bachmann Doesn't Go Out In St. Cloud, MN At Night--Bernie King & The Guilty Pleasures: Drinking With The Lord.

I Don't Care If I Never Get Back.

     JackRabbit Café's Twin Cities Man in the Street--The Best-Looking Man In Show Business Today--sent HQ a heads-up on an item he saw in The Minnesota Independent.

     It concerned the minor league St. Paul Saints baseball team, well-known in Minnesota and elsewhere for their topically clever marketing campaigns. That's the two-faced Coleman/Franken bobblehead above, outfitted as Sesame Street's "The Count," and hilariously playing off that state's still-unresolved U.S. Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken. 2,500 of the dolls will be given away at the May 23 game against the Sioux Falls Canaries.   

     I went to a Saints game a few years back and had a helluva good time--cheap tickets, great local beer and tons of food on lots of smoky grills all around the outside of the cozy ballpark. I could've hopped a freight train just beyond the fence, too.  

     If I had two hours to show space aliens the American Experience, I'd bring 'em to a minor league baseball game. I'll bet they'd never phone home again.  

     But, really: will any ballpark promo ever top the Bobblefoot, which was the Saints ode to dumbass Minneapolis airport stall boy and former Idaho Senator Larry Craig? 

     It even had a tapping foot.

     Hook-ups sold separately.

Turn It Up.

The Internet is a big place, so sometimes things slip by. Still, a piece on one of JackRabbit Café's faves--Twin Cities-based musician Bernie King--showed up at the home office late last week.

From Minneapolis music site Rift (www.riftmagazine.com):

By Nelson Heise

First things first, Bernie’s full name suits the kind of alt-country rock he delivers on his self-titled album. His cowboy hat cover photo adds to the twangy guitars and baritone voice that comes pouring out of the speakers on tracks like “North Rim”, “Drinking with the Lord” and “Big Fat Woman”. I cannot say that Mr. King’s disc is about to start the next great music revolution and frankly that’s fine because he feels comfortable in the niche of gritty guitars and loner lost love stories.

When Bernie’s cranks up the volume on tracks like “North Rim”, “Highways of Nebraska”, “Road to Hell” and “Big Fat Woman”, I feel more convinced of the message he is trying to deliver. Bernie’s strong guitar playing seems to shine when there is the backbone of a band to bring his licks alive. The more mellow tracks are fine and are filled with your typical pedal steel guitar and organ work, but they seem to miss some of the rowdiness the harder tracks bring. But this is a small critique to what is an over all good, solid disc, that has raw energy and sincerity, and those are qualities that can be hard to come by.

Check out the "King" link on the sidebar for more. There's talk of a new release come fall '09.