Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Wanna Live Inside a Painting?
When Axios reporter Audrey Kennedy shared photos of a for-rent Minneapolis apartment yesterday, the tweet took off because of the elaborate, ceiling-spanning murals inside the historic Stevens Square space. Zac Farber, former editor of the Southwest Journal, quickly cleared up any mystery around the George R. Newell House's ornately painted rooms: Not only did Farber once live there, he also once wrote a damn feature story on Susan Lynn, the longtime tenant responsible for the panoramic paintings. (Architecture critic Larry Millett once called the building from 1888 "a Romanesque Revival hunk and one of the grand houses of the city.")
The Southwest Journal might be zombified—much more on that, including quotes from Farber, here—but this archival link will let you read about Lynn's artistic journey, which included scouting trips to the Musée d'Orsay museum in Paris for inspiration. "I did the work of my own will and own heart," she told the neighborhood paper in 2020. "I rented it because I wanted to finish these murals." Click here for more rental info and, crucially, way more photos; the one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is available now for $1,750 per month. "Living inside an artwork has its drawbacks," Farber reports. "But the space is even cooler in person."
Our Wild, Wacky Winter—In Chart Form!
Every town needs a chart guy. For far too long, the Twin Cities lacked a proper chart guy. Can you even begin to imagine the things that went uncharted? It was truly uncharted territory, chart-wise, for a town like ours that loves its charts. So you can imagine our delight when Minnesota Reformer hired chart-head reporter Christopher Ingraham, who has showered us with beautiful, informative charts since he joined the media market a couple years back. Today, with heat maps and line charts galore, Ingraham illustrates the warmest Minnesota winter in more than a century. (You're not allowed to get huffy about shoveling this week.) In terms of temps and snowfall, we effectively enjoyed March-like weather all winter long, he reports. El Nino was a culprit, just as it was during the winterless winter of 1877-'78, and so was climate change. "Who knows," Ingraham concludes. "One day we may all look back on the Winter That Wasn’t of 2024 as a harbinger of Minnesota’s climate future: Less ice. Less snow. More March." But don't take our quote-aggregated word for it: Head over to the Reformer for those sweet-ass charts.
Hero Twin Saves Florida Man from Housefire
The Twins drafted Travis Adams in the sixth round back in 2021, but I'll tell you what: If I were drafting loveable jocks to save me from a certain fiery death, I'd select that young pitching prospect first overall. That's because Adams accomplished just that Monday evening in Fort Myers, Florida, where the Twins just wrapped up Spring Training. Along with three other Good Samaritans, the 24-year-old starting pitcher sprang into action after hearing a loud bang, reports local station WINK News. "I end up tearing a little part of the fence down... we end up getting the door open, and getting him out," Adams says, adding that "a big old blaze" was in clear view. "I don't really think of myself as a hero, but just tried to do as much as possible and did the right thing." The rescued man, who was simply identified as "Howard," must disagree with the first part. ("Howard, your house is on fire, get out!" one neighbor helpfully shouted Monday.) Adams will show off his baseball heroics with the Twins' AA-affiliate Wichita Wind Surge. That team begins the 2024 season April 5, while our big-league Twins kick things off with a three-game series that begins tomorrow in Kansas City.
More Music Fest Lineups Drop
Remember when Racket published a 2,500-word feature story on the apparent death of the Twin Cities music festival? That was just last year, man! In the intervening months we've gained the curiously named Minnesota Yacht Club fest, re-gained the drunken collection plate known as Basilica Block Party, and, today, the Breakaway Music Festival was announced as the first-ever fest booked for St. Paul's Allianz Field.
Breakaway is scheduled for June 28-29 and... well, let's google the dance/DJ/EDM headliners to learn about them together in real-time, shall we? There is, of course, Illenium, who I understand to be an Illinois-born DJ/producer who trades in the "future bass" genre, of which we're all quite familiar; we're told his 2019 album, Ascend, peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard charts—not bad. And who could forget Kaskade? Lord knows that Mormon DJ from Chicago, the very one who performed this year at the Super Bowl, will be bringing his progressive house tunes to the ol' soccer stadium. Other performers include: Slander, Knock 2, Isoxo, Caked Up, JKATZ, Spirit Motel, and TimeTwoFly. Tickets to our Breakaway ($70-$999), which is one of 10 such fests around the country this summer, go on sale 10 a.m. Friday via this link.
Elsewhere in local outdoor music universe: Organizers behind St. Paul's Lowertown Sounds just announced the 2024 lineup. The free weekly summer concert series reliably hosts local music acts, beer vendors, and food trucks from 6-9:30 p.m. at Mears Park. Founder/director Clint Roberts told the Strib that folks shouldn't take this bargain good time for granted. "That's one of the problems: We've been around a while now and are known for putting on popular shows, so everyone thinks we're doing great," he says, alluding to financial challenges. So vow, here and now, to get your ass down to Lowertown and support at least one of the following shows...
- June 6: Dan Israel, Favourite Girl, Colin Bracewell
- June 13: Molly Maher and her Disbelievers, Erik Koskinen
- June 20: The New Standards, Laamar
- June 27: The Scarlet Goodbye, Cole Allen Band
- July 11: Mary Bue, the High 48s
- July 18: The Orange Goodness; Tom, Dick & Harry
- July 25: Rogue Valley, Maygen & the Birdwatcher
- Aug. 1: Annie and the Bang Bang, Keep for Cheap
- Aug. 8: Champagne Confetti, Barlow
- Aug. 15: Flamin' Oh's, Pullstring
- Aug. 22: Salsa del Soul, Tropical Zone Orchestra
- Aug. 29: Dan Rodriguez, Becky Kapell, Lonesome Dan Kase
