city and country.

   I had to go the big city yesterday, there were not too many people out and about. these are some of the skyscrapers there. below, see the hennepin co. library with several tall buildings behind, including the ids tower. the ids was the only tall building in minneapolis for many years giving the downtown area a very distinct look. it's definitely changed over the years...

   

   I worked for 2 years at the top of the ids, at the orion room / cleos. it was kind of a hassle to come and go, but it was a really cool place to work. years and years ago this was... there was quite the cast of characters working there at the time.

   cathy the dishwasher in the elevator after work: beautiful people who have just had very expensive dinner and drinks are now traveling with the person who's still sweating from washing their dishes. she was a little indifferent to the other passengers as she used to click her jaw madly to assuage the pressure in her ears from the ride down. 

   lori barbero: lori was a very nice girl and definitely tough. she would come to work dressed very punk and transform herself (as much as possible) for the floor. one night a british band, 'the lime spiders' came to 1st avenue. lori (and I, but not with lori) attended - and left with the boys on their bus after the show. no more lori. next thing I heard of her was that she was the drummer for 'babes in toyland'

   several other musicians, artists, actors and dancers worked in a tiny back of the house / kitchen, that I always thought of as like being in a submarine perched high in the sky. it was a very interesting place.

every once in awhile, late at night after work was done: mix a drink, turn on the 'oldies' channel, go into one of the smaller rooms, turn off lights, enjoy. beautiful.

   here's the armory. I saw a few concerts there. It's acoustics are not good but this is my kind of venue. I wish all indoor concerts were held at venues like this. I just much prefer the old school - industrial - utilitarian vibe of an old civic center, to these modern 'softeez toilet paper center' joints.

   70's concerts: $8-$10, mostly kids, a cloud of smoke fills the 'sky' for the evening. bottles and frisbees flying around. halls filled with colorful long haired kids in various states of buzzed. fire crackers and rock music blasting. fun. 

   in august 1978 I drove my '67 fury III from stacy to blaine, where I picked up greg marx. his father was a strict authoritarian and their family was run in a very unhappy manner. the family was basically doing homesteader stuff: big garden, everything home made etc. that day his father had ordered him to return a rabbit to the wild of my house before he could go anywhere else. he agreed and we set off, 15 blocks further and it was freedom for blinky the bunny into the nearest field we could find.    

   then we took off for bloomington to see my 1st concert: the eagles, steve miller band and pablo cruise at the old met stadium (current site: mall o' america), tickets were $10. the attendance for this show was a record 80,000 outside in the pouring rain that only let up towards the end of the night. I more or less purposefully 'got seperated' from greg at the beginning of the show and spent the rest of the night 'alone' with 80,000 other revelers... there's parts to this story that can't be told here, what with this being a family operation and all...     ...quite the introduction to concerts for me.

when I came back to the country this is what I saw:

a cardinal, perched in the blue spruce next to our house.

I like the city.

I like the country.

sven.