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RIP David Gray, the Guy Who Brought All the Weird Stuff to Ax-Man
Mary Divine of the Pioneer Press writes a great obit, and the latest deceased Minnesotan to receive her tribute is David Gray, the former owner of Ax-Man Surplus, who died earlier this month at the age of 77.
Gray started working at Ax-Man in 1968 and was soon brought on as a co-owner on account of his perceptive buying strategies, which made the surplus store a clearinghouse for the ridiculous and the obscure as well as the useful. Divine provides this incomplete list of items Gray brought to Ax-Man: “glass beakers, Army camouflage, pictures of Pope John Paul, bowling pins, wheels, oscilloscopes, airplane escape slides, Swedish military helmets, gnomes, milk of magnesia, feather hat bands, mannequin heads, body bags, hinges, and salad-dressing mixers.”
After reading this obit, I wish I'd met Gray. He was also a sculptor as well as an inventor with a patent on a “squeegee handle assembly” among other designs. He wrote witty descriptions of products, touting Velcro strips as "imported from the famous Velcro tree fields on the coast of Yugoslavia, where the climate is perfect for fine Velcro.”
Though Gray sold the mini Twin Cities chain in 2001, his legacy lived on every time a boyfriend held up an item with an ironic smirk and asked, “Should we get this?“ or a mom shook her head and wondered, “Who buys this stuff?” or a dad earnestly declared, “We could really use one of these.”
Immigrants Struggle to Pay the Price to Work Legally
What you should always remember about the U.S. immigration system is that it’s largely funded by immigrants themselves, who shell out for filing fees whenever they renew or adjust status, need work authorization, or otherwise engage with U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. In the aftermath of the ICE siege on Minnesota, immigrants aren’t just struggling to pay for food and shelter, but also to maintain their legal status.
At The 19th, reporter Chabeli Carrazana follows a Minnesota woman named Alexa who lacks the funds to renew her work permit.
“With no savings, she had to decide between paying her rent to keep her baby and her 5-year-old housed, or paying the application fee—$555—plus nearly $800 in attorneys fees she usually pays to ensure the application is done correctly,” Carrazana writes. “She chose rent.”
Carrazana also speaks to the mutual aid organizers and immigration groups struggling to help people like Alexa.
Yeah, Let’s Put This Guy Outta Business
The Strib’s Bill Lukitsch profiles 46-year-old Caleb Davies, a Brooklyn Park man who says he’s won over $1 million by predicting which songs and movies will succeed, using his fintech background and his own forecasting tools.
Currently, we’re waiting to see whether the courts will allow Minnesota to enforce its new law banning certain “prediction markets” (i.e., gambling), but Davies isn’t too concerned about losing his hustle. We learn that he has “maxed out his retirement accounts, outfitted his living room with new furniture, bought a new electric vehicle and installed a $40,000 home theater in his basement,” while traveling to 48 countries.
“Your Average Joe is not going to win at this,” Davies tells the Strib. And as Lukitsch writes, Davies’s story is proof that “the person you’re betting against has the tools and know-how to beat you every time.” He doesn’t mean you though. You’re different. You can win.
RIP Jennifer Finch. Let’s Listen to L7 at the Uptown Bar in 1991.
No, L7 wasn’t a local band. But they were a great one, and when bassist Jennifer Finch died of brain cancer at 59 this past weekend, the social media account Mpls Music History was quick to find a local angle. To wit: In the ’80s, Finch was in a short-lived band in San Francisco with Kat Bjelland (pre-Babes in Toyland) and Courtney Love (before she moved to Minneapolis for a short pre-Hole stay) called Sugar Babylon (aka Sugar Babydoll and Sugar Bunnyfarm) that Bjelland once called “the smallest thing I’ve ever done musically.”
Also local? This killer soundboard recording of L7 at the Uptown 35 years ago, again courtesy of Mpls Music History.
