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KEEPING MN WEIRD!

Posted at 6:38 PM on January 19, 2011 by Mark Wheat (5 Comments)

KEEPING MN WEIRD -

When I first went to Austin TX for the SXSW conference a few years ago, I saw tons of bumper stickers and posters simply saying "Keep Austin Weird". The city has forged a reputation internationally for this massive annual explosion of live music but the phrase seemed to exhort the locals to live that life 24/7, 365, not just for a week every Spring.
It also seems to emphasized that supporting as much live music as they do is weird, not the norm, a little bit out there. But in a good way, something they should be proud of. It took me years to figure out that I was weird too. Music is not as important for most people as it is for me. So visiting a community that celebrates this particular weirdness and wears it as a badge of honor was exciting.

MN is weird. Compared to every other state in America, we have more art and music per capita, more venues, artists and fans than any other state. It's the only state where a portion of the sales tax goes to fund the arts because of the Legacy Amendment of 2009. That's beautifully weird. So when we were planning the 6th birthday party at First Ave and Jim, our boss, asked us to come up with some Awards to give out as part of the celebration, I decided that I wanted to try to do something that would help ...
Wheat's Award for Keeping MN Weird!

Prince has set a pretty high standard and he surely deserves some credit as the Prince of Weird! Weird is good, it sets challenges for others to follow, it pushes the envelope, it¹s drawing outside the lines. All pioneers have been considered weird in their time. Remember when he changed his name to a symbol, now other artists chose a symbol as part of their name (Ke$ha) and no-one blinks an eye. He says the internet is dead and everyone thinks he¹s out of touch, but now the commentators who watch the industry are saying the same thing. He¹s in the midst of playing some big sold out shows on the east coast so will not be able to make it to the birthday party, but the fact that he showed up last year, a mega superstar checking out the young local music scene was very weird too! But he hardly needs anymore awards, so who should it be?

Comments (5)

Heatbox is one great musician that is representing the weirdness of MN as he tours around the country. He is a beatboxer making funk music full of strange sound effects and lyrics about pizza, space travel, the fastest sperm, and more that people love to dance to. Believe me, its unlike anything you have ever heard (and I have listened to a lot of beatboxers). His love of video games enters his performances quite often. He does a beatbox version of the Tetris theme song, speeding it up as the song "levels up". He sometimes wears a Nintendo Power Glove during his performance and has the audience pause at certain times during his show. His second CD came with a video game he created. All the sound effects in his ninja video game were created vocally. Heatbox is the weirdest wildly creative local artist I have heard and seen. I program multimedia concert listings for the Twin Cities on www.ilove.mn everyday so I have seen and heard just about every weird artist in the TC. He edges out just above the lead singer of The Goondas, who is also a weirdo but in a very different way.

Posted by Hijumes | January 19, 2011 9:22 PM

The first person that comes to my mind is Mark Mallman. There is not a lot that is 'weirder' than doing a single song that takes 3 days to perform, especially since his explanation is "because!"

Posted by Cynthia | January 20, 2011 7:11 AM

I think Craig Minowa and Cloud Cult should get the award. Not a sympathy award (praying for Craig), but because of what they've done and how they've done it.

From their totally green studio to the epic live performances. I can truly their CD release show at First Ave was THE most entertaining shows I've ever been to! They have artists painting while playing, who also sing! And not to mention at one point in the concert two of the band members were playing cookie sheets! And they even had rubbermaids as instruments!

And that's just their live show! Their albums are just as epic and entertaining; from the wailing voices to the excellent instrumentation. It's all great.

Most importantly is the message that they convey. This whole idea of positive energy and being totally comfortable with who you are. It's great!

I think Cloud Cult deserves Wheat's Award for Keeping MN Weird!

Posted by Shane | January 20, 2011 8:51 AM

How about Har-Mar-Superstar being incredibly melodically strange like The Flaming Lips are? "Tall Boy" is also catchy as hell like the best Kanye is!!

Posted by M.J | January 20, 2011 1:02 PM

Skoal Kodiak: not only is the music danceably, mind-blowingly strange, but what other group uses as an instrument a bleach bottle filled with electronics?

Hastings 3000 certainly also deserves a mention. Not only does H3K rock the one-man band thang (a PoMo comment on the nature of how much popular music is produced?), but also covers "Ça Plane Pour Moi" and performs in a gas mask.

Posted by Phil | January 21, 2011 7:43 AM

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