Guess Who’s Playing the New Uptown Music Venue’s Grand Opening

Welcome to The Flyover, your daily digest of what local media outlets are gabbing about.

New Uptown Music Venue Announces Grand-Opening Show

Earlier this month, Racket provided this scoop about Green Room, the new Uptown music venue taking shape inside the ol' Pourhouse space. (Curiously, no other outlets have covered this + provided valuable courtesy links to our website.) Now we know who'll play the 400-capacity concert hall's premiere evening on January 28: local rockers Gully Boys and Scrunchies, both of whom have been the recipients of glowing Keith Harris profiles (here and here, respectively). But wait, there's more: Fenix Dion, Denim Matriarch, and Colin Bracewell will also rock the first-ever Green Room show. Find ticket info here; Minneapolis singer-songwriter Preston Gunderson is scheduled for February 4. “People are living in Uptown, and, for whatever reason, they aren’t going out. Maybe they don’t feel safe. Maybe there aren’t enough options for them. I personally think it’s the latter,” Green Room manager Tanner Montague told us. “I’m down for the challenge."

Haven’t We Learned Not to Name Public Spaces After Crappy People? 

Days after Rep. Brad Finstad was sworn into office, he got down to business on the important stuff: introducing legislation that would name a post office after fellow GOP’er Jim Hagedorn. Finstad stepped in to finish Hagedorn’s term after the sitting First District rep died of kidney cancer in 2022. For those unfamiliar with Hagedorn, dude was a big Trump fan, signed 2020’s election-denying amicus brief, and was known to speak in the kind of coded language white nationalists love. So, why should we name a post office–one in Hagedorn’s hometown of Blue Earth is proposed–after this dude?

Pro? Hagedorn used the mail. A lot. According to Wiki, “in 2020, LegiStorm released an analysis of Hagedorn's office spending, finding that the office had spent more than one fifth of its $1.4 million annual office budget on publicly funded constituent mail.” Con? He didn’t always trust the mail. Like many election deniers, Hagedorn had a beef with mail-in ballots. No word yet on whether ex-MN GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan–Hagedorn’s wife who got flack for BFFing with a sex trafficker, was rumored to have gotten physical during her husband’s funeral, and flamed out trying to seize his vacant seat in the house–is for or against the naming.

State Fair Admission Prices Inch up Again

Admission to the Minnesota State Fair will cost you $1 more this year, Bring Me the News reports. Adult admission will rise to $18, and the cost for seniors and kids will be $16. Children under five, as always a drain on our economy, still get in free. The cost of fair tix has doubled since 2003, rising at roughly a buck a year. I’m no mathematician, but if prices keep increasing at this rate, tickets will eventually cost $1 billion dollars apiece. 

In addition, parking will increase $3 to $20 in 2023, while motorcycle parking will rise from $11 to $15. (Bike parking? Still free!) According to outgoing Minnesota State Fair CEO Jerry “The Hammer” Hammer, inflation is not the only reason for the increase—the fair needs more money for public safety, Park & Ride, and facility updates. The Minnesota State Agricultural Society, which governs the fair, also approved a $9.4 million capital investment for upgrades and improvements. But let's put things in perspective, the Iowa State Fair has hiked its admission $2 this year, and their event is way inferior, no matter what Sen. Amy Klobuchar says.

The Roads Stink Right Now!

And that's why both Minneapolis and St. Paul are enacting new parking rules this week aimed at getting plows to work on problem streets. KSTP reports that Minneapolis has already enacted one-sided parking "on some of the streets in challenging areas" in an attempt to ensure that emergency workers can get through. (Minneapolis's update from the city is here.) In St. Paul, things are more specific: From 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., beginning January 17 and ending January 20, cars won't be allowed to park on designated sides of residential streets. "Residents should move all vehicles from east-west residential streets on Tuesday and Wednesday and move vehicles from north-south residential streets on Thursday and Friday," the St. Paul's website explains, adding that this is NOT a snow emergency.