A Very Opinionated List of the Greatest Weekly Music Events in Twin Cities History Mid 90s - Now
Dr. Mambo’s Combo at Bunker’s Sundays and sometimes Mondays since 1987. To thrive a weekly needs a combination of the expected and the unexpected. If I know everything that’s happening every week, why would I come back? If it’s a completely clean slate, what is going to drive me to get my ass out of the house on a cold Sunday? Sundays with Dr. Mambo’s Combo has a bit of all of it, maybe a legendary touring band is coming through, maybe it’s Michael B on drums, maybe it’s Petar, maybe it’s that shaved head dude. Who knows. But there also expectations, they’re probably going to play more Gap Band than you expected and less Prince than you friend from out of town expected. They’ll be a committed dance floor, they’ll be fun. One time I was there and it was empty (probably first set in the middle of August). One of the singers in between songs from a seated position announced confidently: “we don’t play our originals at these shows. . .because I prefer to jerk off at home”. I still think about that line and laugh all the time. You never know quite what is gonna happen at Bunkers, but you know what you can count on. It’s a beautiful thing and whenever I have a musician friend visiting town I make sure they see it.
Some of the elite players that make up Dr. Mambo’s Combo including Kevin, The Juice, Margaret, Michael B (above), Billy Franze (RIP), and Sonny T.
The Tuesday Open Mics with Kevin Washington and Desdamona at The Blue Nile I’m gonna guess maybe 2000-2012?
Rest in peace to The Blue Nile. Located on Franklin right by the Taco Bell (which I’m told is also no longer there). The Ethiopian food was not good in my opinion, the hang was spectacular. Amazing sound system, legendary recurring events, a musician centric hang. This open mic was courageously curated with a real sense that you could see a legend next to a rank amateur within a ten minute time span. But throughout the whole run, I thought that Desdamona and Kevin did an incredible job of pacing, swapping up familiar with brand new and the whole time creating this amazing hang. I saw a lot of now greats step on stage at their humble start over at that night. Recently I’ve reconnected with Pavielle as she started hosting a show at Jazz88 and half of our conversations are about these open mics. There’s a story Pavielle wants to tell and document about the Poetry Slam/Open Mic scene that developed in the Twin Cities from 95-maybe 2005 and wow, I want to read that story and I’m hoping I can help find a way to get that story told properly.
Headspin at Bon Appetit in Dinkytown for maybe one year around 2000.
This one has personal significance for me. I was not part of organizing these events but Zach, Serum and many others put together a weekly that offered up a lot of great music, including plenty of Heiruspecs shows. I spent a long time thinking that the only way you could have a great weekly is if it was possible for young people to get their hands on some beer from time to time. I have seen many weeklies that don’t follow that rule, but wow, was it easy to buy a pitcher up front at Bon Appetit and share it with the whole team back in the back room. The energy of Headspin was compelling, there was crews coming from all over the Cities, there were even visiting artists from other cities and the spirit was wonderful. I wasn’t at the center of it, but I spent many Sundays thinking in real time, “this will be one of the most special chapters in my life”. And I was right.
The New Primitives at Mayslacks (Thursdays?)
I’ve never had a physical reaction to music quite like waltzing into Mayslacks and seeing Stan, Chico and company deliver the goods. I had the lowest of low expectations, not cause I didn’t expect them to be good, I just didn’t expect them to be cooking yet. I walked in at maybe 9:30 and figured if they were playing it was going to be very first set sounding. Tentative, everyone is fixing their amps, working on the details, not ready to really go yet. But what I walked into was an insane energy and if I’m not mistaken they were working with a DJ at the time who would do some things during the set and then take it over for set breaks. It was sweaty, it was funky, it was raw and the stage presence was wild. People sharing mics, cymbals, drinks, probably joints. It was just this explosion on stage and I couldn’t believe I had missed it until then. Unbelievable.
B3 Nights at the Artists Quarter 1995-2011
I’ll keep it absolutely real. I went to this thing maximum . . .twice. But getting to see Billy Holloman work that organ and all sorts of folks guest with poetry, some with instruments. It was so exciting, so engaging and so clearly the center of so many people’s weekly calendars. I felt like I had walked into a family meeting with booze. There was this spirit like the rest of the week’s hours were just preamble and post script to these hours together at the Artists Quarter. Unbelievable.
Real bummer I didn’t find a photo with Billy Holloman in it.
Molly Maher and her Disbelievers at Nye’s Polonaise Room Wednesdays 2000-2010?
This one was such a fun hang. Martin Devaney brought me down to this thing a couple times and it was one of those nights that had its own chemistry. Nobody was strangers after song one. There was just a forced intimacy in that room, plus the martinis were strong (and as a I recall sort of uncomfortably expensive). Man, some good times watching that band. And the one guitar player who worked at Willie’s, he was just unnecessarily good. Distractingly good. I wouldn’t know most of the songs and now that I’ve gotten more into that style of music I realize they were playing the great shit. Sometimes some famous people would roll out, but mainly it was Molly just holding court and making the vibe right. She is a great front person because I think she could give two shits about being a front person and that’s a huge part of the magic. (I have a theory that the secret to someone being good on the radio is them not thinking they would be good on the radio). Magic.
photo by Tony Nelson, who I am attempting to compensate!
Les Exodus at The Blue Nile (late 90s to maybe 2015)
There are differences between Les Exodus and the International Reggae All-Stars but I can’t tell you every difference. What I can tell you is that Thursdays belonged to Exodus. I haven’t heard many people call them Les Exodus to be 100% percent honest with you. I definitely say Exodus. But NO BAND, NO BAND at all sounds as good as this band did at Exodus before the one kind of jerky sound guy quit. I believe he built the soundboard. He was part of the band. He cooked all this extra bass into the system without having it be overbearing. No, it was something else. This band has two incredibly charismatic vocalists without either of them being “STAR POWERED”. They are just incredible to listen to, to spend a couple sets with. This was the band that played our wedding no bullshit.
October 20, 2013 Les Exodus delivering it at Rachel and Sean’s excellent wedding.
(I’ve just spent a long time watching a video thinking it was a guy that looked a lot like Drake but it’s actually Drake). Good song. In fact, pretty awesome song, and great videos, especially if you appreciate a butt. I do.
I also appreciate Les Exodus. That keyboard player, Chili, he’s out of control. He’s running three four things at the same time, triggering some, some are looping up and he exudes this massive calm, when he’s playing he looks like he’s watching a show, not playing one. When I went and saw em a lot it was Jordan Carlson on drums and then Andy Mark on bass. When I was really working with Dessa Andy Mark was the sub for Heiruspecs gigs. He is just such a great bass player, and absolute natural. That’s not to say the man didn’t work on his craft, but at this point he just exudes this straight up fucking mastery. Him playing with that group at Exodus, with the huge bass amp that stayed there? It was just massive. And this was the first place I really saw what could be done with having one of those drum pads next to you. Sure, I’d seen drumpads next to a kit, but I hadn’t seen them stuffed with amazing low tones, and claps, and washed out effects. Unbelievable. And this weekly was the one where suddenly this reggae fan found a little bit of that dancehall. I hadn’t gone hard for dancehall, but here I was falling in love with it. What a treat. This weekly had another magical thing, every set served a different crew. If I recall the opening set caught late diners and folks who were just catching one drink. The middle set kind of split the difference, everyone is there, taking it in, enjoying the scene and maybe moving. The final set. . .ALL DANCEHALL, lots of dancing lots of energy. Legendary. So many great memories.
All of Mint Condition playing Latin Tinged Jazz at Babalu with Wallace Hill as Joto 2006?-2008? Wednesdays?
Mint Condition (RIP) and their individual members are an under-appreciated part of the Minnesota music scene. Is a big part of this racism? Absolutely! We have a gold selling R&B band that hails from St. Paul and is revered the world over for their live performances and songcraft. And besides for a cover story (legit work from Peter Scholtes) I bet they were mentioned in City Pages 1/2 to 2/3 as often as many bands with vastly smaller fanbases and national profiles. Even to this day Stokley shows up on records with the like of Robert Glasper, Nate Smith and other rising stars in the world of forward thinking black music without getting the type of love he should be commanding from local media. And there’s opportunities to celebrate because the players of Mint Condition have stayed quite involved in the local scene beyond their primary projects. DeVon from Heiruspecs brought me down to see Joto sometime in the 2010s and what I witnessed was so inspired. This wasn’t R&B guys dabbling in jazz with a conga thrown in for some Latin flavor. No, this was bonafide masters of Latin jazz stretching out and going for broke. These sessions were so powerful. This band was a powerhouse and the scene was beautiful. Mint Condition and surrounding scenes: perhaps the most attractive fans in the Twin Cities. Nicely tailored suits, folks dressed like it’s a Friday on a Wednesday, some just beautiful human beings taking in this music. Also, people would dance to these jazz performances. Even when the songs would rhumba right into the ten minute mark there would still be committed dancers moving it. Unbelievable.
Couldn’t find any photo of Joto. Here’s a publicity photo of Stokley.