Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Lose a Tree, Gain a Cat (Record-Wise)
First it was Oar Folkjokeopus, the south Minneapolis record shop that frequently housed the famously shit-housed Replacements. In 2001, it became Mark Trehus’s Treehouse Records, which held down a corner of 26th & Lyndale until 2017, when its doors slammed closed. But the Strib’s Chris Riemenschneider (whose name I have never attempted to freestyle spell) has good news for vinyl freaks near Whittier: The storied storefront will finally reopen this summer as Lucky Cat Records with first-time music seller Michele Swanson at the helm.
"It was that location specifically that got me thinking about opening a record store," Swanson tells Riemenschneider. "It just seems like that's what should be there." Trehus, who still owns the building, agrees: “My initial thought was that the neighborhood had become [too] gentrified… I am thrilled that someone wants to keep a record store in that spot."
Expect an extra-welcoming atmosphere (think the opposite of High Fidelity), and don’t read into the WELLSTONE window sign coming down; Swanson, an avid collector who worked for years as a manager at Delta Airlines, reports it had simply deteriorated beyond repair. The store is being tidied and remodeled at the moment, and its new proprietor is eyeing a grand-opening bash sometime in July. Speaking of record stores, Saturday is Record Store Day 2024—check out our buddy Erik Thompson’s guide to Twin Cities happenings over at The Current.
This is Too Much to Graupel With
It's mid-April, it was 70 degrees out less than a week ago—at this point, you never want to look outside and see white stuff falling. But Fool's Spring got us as it always does, and this week we've been blessed with cloudy skies, whipping winds, and... I'm sorry, graupel?
That's right folks, the precipitation we saw Friday morning was neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor hail but instead a mysterious fifth thing: graupel, according to Sven Sundgaard at MPR. Sundgaard writes that graupel, which is pronounced "graa·pl" if Google is to be believed, looks kind of like Dippin' Dots. Sleet is clear, hard, and frozen; hail is a ball of layered ice formed in strong updrafts; snow is formed when water vapor turns to ice without becoming a liquid. Graupel, on the other hand, "forms when super cooled water droplets freeze onto snow flakes," which is called “riming.” (Careful Googling that...)
That's what happened this morning: A layer of super-cooled water droplets was hanging out 4,000 or so feet above the ground, and then snow flakes formed above and fell through them, giving us the lovely graupel that briefly dusted the Twin Cities. Weather! What can't it do?
How Hosed Are the Twins?
As you may have noticed, the hometown nine are a tedious, frustrating chore to watch this season. At 6-11, the sparkless squad is hacking away at the plate while the pitchers give up dingers at an MLB-worst rate.
Writes Aaron Gleeman of the The Athletic in this numerical breakdown of the team’s woes: “‘It’s still early’ is usually the most calming mantra for frustrated baseball fans, reminding them that, no matter how hopeless their team’s season may feel in the midst of an awful start, the six-month, 162-game marathon provides no shortage of chances for redemption. Of course, ‘it’s still early’ can also sound like a threat if the awful start turns out to be an awful team.”
Gleeman cites disconcerting numbers, like Twins batters hitting .193—the second-worst mark for an AL team through 17 games in 50 years. Yet other figures signal at least some hope that Rocco Baldelli’s boys can turn things around, like 214 days missed to injury (the third-most in the bigs) and a combined opponent winning percentage of .564 (toughest AL schedule to date).
The most reassuring number, according to Gleeman? The fact that 145 games remain, beginning with tonight’s homestand-opener against division mates Detroit. And it's Friday, meaning you can at least win the gluttony game via Target Field's all-you-can-eat special*—here's how much we can eat.
*Update: Apparently that promotion night is no more; now, it seems, the only way gorge limitlessly is through Legends Landing tickets.
4/20 Blaze It
That's about enough news, eh folks? Let's lean into the weekend with some of the THC-y things that are going on during the first 4/20 with legal weed in Minnesota. The Star Tribune's Matt DeLong has a list of 33 weed-themed events you can partake of this weekend, from a 21+ smokeout at Hi Flora! to a Trail Magic Earth Day Hike from Minneapolis Cider Co. (We spotted at least one event missing from the damn-near comprehensive list: Vernal Vibrations at Marigold, where the NA bottle shop will have a special "golden hour" menu.)
And new neighborhood newsletter Longfellow Whatever explores the "Lake Street Weed District" today, stopping by a quartet of weedy destinations, many of which are throwing celebrations of their own this weekend. Ex-Gov. Jesse Ventura will deliver the keynote address at the Hook & Ladder launch party for his new boutique weed brand, Ventura Farms; he told us today by phone that he never prepares speeches in advance, so who knows what the hell he'll say? Have fun and celebrate responsibly, my friends!
