Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
3 New State Fair Grandstand Shows Announced
The folks are the State Fair Grandstand announced three more shows today. Joining a roster that already includes Pitbull, ’90s alt-throwbacks like Counting Crows and Alice in Chains, and Diana Ross herself will be the Beach Boys and the Temptations, the Current’s annual Music On-a-Stick night, and a Disney Princess show. Believe it or not, one original member of the Temptations is alive and touring: 80-year-old Otis Williams, who owns the group name. Good for him for getting paid. The Beach Boys remain, alas, a grouchy Mike Love production. The Current’s show features Portugal. The Man, Manchester Orchestra, and locals Bad Bad Hats.
As for the Disney Princesses, they’re Broadway singers performing Disney tunes, not costumed Disney characters. Adults are only admitted if accompanied by a child. (OK, I just made that up but it should be the rule.) But the Grandstand announcement really buried the lede here: The princesses will be joined by “their magical music director and enchanting Prince.” Prince! Performing your favorite Disney songs! How will they manage this? Hologram? Resurrection by supernatural or scientific processes? Anyway, “Prince Is Coming to the State Fair” is not technically a lie, and I used multiple question marks, so this headline does not meet statutory definitions of “clickbait” in any state, nation, or municipality.
Cops Cost Minneapolis Another $1.5M
Remember Jaleel Stallings, who was charged with attempted murder when he shot back at Minneapolis police officers firing projectiles at him out of an unmarked van during the nights following the murder of George Floyd? He was acquitted in September, and then he filed a federal civil suit alleging that the police behavior violated his constitutional rights. Turns out the city of Minneapolis has reached a settlement with him for $1.5 million. Of note, the body camera footage, as so often it does, contradicted what the police said happened. As the Strib’s Andy Mannix points out, this follows two other big settlements in cases where police fired projectiles at protestors: $1.8 million to two women shot in the faces, and $2.4 million to Soren Stevenson, who lost his left eye.
A Baby by Any Other Name…
Names are tough. Just ask us, the recent namers of a Twin Cities news/arts/culture website. (I think we did OK!) Even more consequential: baby names, the very subject Jeff Hargarten and MaryJo Webster explore with this neat interactive baby name database they debuted today for the Star Tribune. Using the latest Social Security Administration data, the search tool allows users to access the historic popularity of Minnesota names, and Hargarten and Webster highlight 2021’s most popular and trending names as well. Old-school names seem to be making a comeback with boys (Oliver, Henry, Theodore) and girls (Charlotte, Olivia, Evelyn). The state's trending names include the blindingly white (Walker, up 453%; Everleigh, up 515%), the increasingly diverse (Mohamedamin, up 233%), and the WTF (Legend, up 287%). Poke around for yourself! It’s a whole lotta fun. And, if you’re brave and fertile enough, step up to my challenge.
Waiter, There’s a Lutefisk in My Soup
You ever lay awake at night feeling that something important is missing from your life? Maybe it’s a state soup—Minnesota doesn’t have one. According to news brought to us by Bring Me the News, Rep. Mike Sundin (DFL-Esko) wants to change that. (Or he’s being a big goof.) (Or both!) Sundin has introduced legislation to “cream of lutefisk” soup, which doesn’t actually exist. BMTN also recalls that Rep. Jim Nash (R-Waconia) wanted cream of mushroom to become our official state soup. Some personal news: I tried lutefisk for the first and only time a few years ago and it was… edible. Not nearly as gross as I thought. In any case, the legislature should really be focusing on our glaring lack of a state fossil.
