CNN loves the Afternoon Delight

We told you these guys were great! Three high school friends from St. Cloud got some local attention recently with their hilarious rendition on Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" that was all about their love for Minnesota. Imagine how surprised they were when CNN contacted them about it! Just this morning the guys shared a link to a CNN article on their Facebook page:
















The article entitled "The song that inspired a nation of remixes" talks about various remakes of the Jay Z hit single and how the song that basically became a New York anthem inspired people across America to write similar songs about their respective cities/states. Even more entertaining than the actual article are the reader comments, mostly submitted by angry New Yorkers who have a problem with.. well, anybody outside New York. Let the hatin' begin!

Submitted by @marrina

What are you doing this NYE?

Our crew will be out and about at numerous soirees, including the l'etoile co-sponsored party at the 501 Club and the Secrets of the City party at the Red Stag! Not to mention Crystal Ball at IMS and Transmission NYE at Jager.

l'etoile has a great, comprehensive guide to the coolest events going on tomorrow night. Check it out, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Ra'mon Lawrence Coleman dishes to l'etoile

And in local fashion gossip...former Minneapolitan and Project Runway fashion designer, Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman gave some serious scoop to l'etoile fashion editor, Jahna Peloquin.

As you may have heard, Coleman and fellow PR alum, Christopher Straub, will be special guests at International Market Square's annual Crystal Ball New Year's Eve bash. Coleman tips Peloquin off that both he and Straub will be debuting holiday capsule collections at the event, including a jacket by Coleman that " looks like something Lady Gaga would wear."

He also dishes some juicy tidbits including...

"I will be on television again next year. It has nothing to do with Project Runway. I’ll be involved with two other reality-based programs, one of which is of The Real Housewives franchise."

"Ultimately in 2010, you’ll see ra’mon-lawrence as a label carried by a major U.S. retailer, which I cannot name at the moment. It’s a pretty, pretty major opportunity. I’m really excited about it."

"I'm set to do a graphic t-shirt collaboration with (local graphic designer and co-founder of YouWorkForThem) Mike Cina."

Read the entire interview HERE

photo by Eliesa Johnson for METRO Magazine

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Golden Boys

Everybody's favorite local radio station, The Current, made a big announcement this morning: "We're proud to announce the line-up of our fifth anniversary party happening on January 29 at First Avenue. Members will get an early chance to get tickets to see Solid Gold, P.O.S., Mason Jennings, Lookbook, and Twilight Hours." We were excited to see a few of our local favorites on the same rooster, which was a general opinion on Twitter this morning. However, @solace (AKA Kyle Matteson from More Cowbell) raised a legit concern:

The post generated a few responses where people mostly agreed with his opinion:
What do you think?? Solid Gold over P.O.S.?

Submitted by @marrina.

Apocalyptic Twin Cities media predictions!

While perusing MNSpeak this morning we happened upon a post, which at first scan, startled the heck out of us! Further investigation revealed that these were predictions that had been posted on Taylor Carik's Mediation blog, not facts, thus our panic meter went down considerably. However, considering the digital age and the death of print, these predictions, which come with a bit of signature Carik humor, may not be that far off the mark. Our prediction? The LOL/OMG blog will become the next big thing, spurring the country on to speak only in internet slang.

Among the predictions:

Village Voice higher-ups realize they can’t keep up with print costs, but can’t make it on CPM advertising alone, so they either sell or close City Pages.

MSP Communications announces it will “begin to phase out” MSP Magazine.

This is a big one - one of the local TV stations will stop doing news broadcasts before the year is over.

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

l'etoile munitions dump blog?

We got a very entertaining Google alert for l'etoile today that sparked a funny convo on Facebook (see image below). l'etoile editor Kate Iverson posts: "Just got a google alert for l'etoile that linked to a really weird remix of last week's edition that has a bunch of words replaced in a really nonsensical fashion. It's titled "l'etoile munitions dump blog." It looks like it was translated into Chinese, then back into English, Ikea instruction manual-style. LOL. Oh, internetz."

TC Daily Planet arts editor, Jay Gabler chimes in with an awesome story about submitting an AIM conversation that had been translated multiple times to his grad school's literary journal as a poem. He went to Harvard, which makes the story even better.

The best part? In regards to LOL/OMG, the re-post translates "daily gossip" to "unimaginative clishmaclaver."

Click to enlarge

submitted by @letoilemagazine

Finders keepers!

We want to find one! According to their Facebook page, the Rogue Citizen Art collective will randomly drop over 40 collaborative paintings in all corners of Minneapolis on New Years Day! Lucky passersby are encouraged to snatch whatever piece they happen upon and communicate their experience back to the group. Talk about sharin' the love, guerrilla art-style!

The group says this:

"Over forty paintings, largely collaborative efforts, will be deposited over different areas of Minneapolis that morning, landing in the warehouse district, downtown, uptown and elsewhere. Busy intersections, back alleys and public transports will become venues for new paintings spewing colorful, twisted landscapes, wrapping together ideas of isolation, commerce, cosmopolitan culture, flowers, war, mortality, and the latest trends in fashion.

People are encouraged to record their discovery of these works and their subsequent status, including vandalism, dismantlement, home exhibition, framing, weather damage, etc."

The project is funded by a grant from the inaugural FEAST MPLS event in November (a ticketed dinner event where attendees vote on proposed art projects to receive the profits from the evening). At the next FEAST this coming February, local filmmaker Sam Thompson will present a film that documents the span of the project including feedback and images collected from the art-finders. Cool!



We don't know about you, but we're going to monitor their Facebook updates on the 1st to see if they drop any location hints!

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

This week in (uploaded) pictures

We've compiled some of our favorite pix that people have uploaded to Facebook over the weekend. Have some good ones? E-mail us at omg@letoilemagazine.com with a link and we may just add yours!

by Jillian Lee Brown

by Liz Bastian

by Tom Horgen

by Christian Erickson

by Sarah Edwards

David De Young and Joel Bremer by Erik Hess

Artist Amy Rice & her dog Ella

tag team photoshop classiness by Andrea Hillestad/Al Witkin

Local writer Steve Marsh as a snowman by Cristina Córdova

by Chase Turner

by Kate Iverson

submitted by @letoilemagazine

Ho Ho LOL: Holiday Updates

Despite the holiday, peeps were still getting their Twitter and Facebook on, letting their friends know about their dysfunctional/charming/funny/weird holiday experiences. Here are a few of our faves...

Jay experiences St. Paul nice.

Marsh and fam score Catholic points

@cecilmenk waxes poetic, Jay Z style.


l'etoile's editor enjoys some holiday "bitch wine"

Wrong. It's bi. And has a foot fetish.


Family togetherness!

We don't get it, but it made us LOL.

We became a fan of "Fist Pumping" on Facebook. No regrets.

It warms our heart to know that Neil Gaiman is somewhere in Northern MN wishing he was illegally downloading Doctor Who.

Us too, but it sounds like an easy seasonal job.

Nothing says "I love you" like a happy holidays tweet from Smashburger.

Anything funny happen to you over the holidays? Post in the comments!

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

snoLOL/snOMG!

The #Snowmaggedon is coming! Or is it #snOMG? Or #snoWTF?? Twitter is a buzz with all the snow talk, with meteorologists feeding our "frenzy" with reports of the impeding megastorm. Some people are freaking out, some are finding it all very silly, while some are blaming God. We have collected the best Twitter/FB comments so you don't have to :

You said it!

Melissa is such an optimist..

Hobart is mad at God.

So is Alexis.


Cristina does not quite agree.

WHAT are bizcochitos??

I wouldn't want to be on that plane.

Let us know if you're stuck on a plane, your house or with your relatives!
Happy Holidays!

Submitted by @marrina.

Oh, City Pages, you totally "get" us.

City Pages music editor, Andrea Swensson, gave an awesome shout out to LOL/OMG today on the Gimme Noise blog. And we have to say she's right on the money with her description. Thanks Andrea!

Swensson links back to our post about Free Energy from last night and says, "First things first: Have you guys been reading this new LOL/OMG blog? As you can probably guess by the name, it's a fairly lighthearted approach to local gossip, and it's run by a few of my favorite Twitter users and bloggers. While it may not seem that the Twin Cities has a dire need for a gossip blog, these ladies do a nice job of keeping things fun (read: not bitchy) and pointing out some local tidbits that they've discovered via their various social media sites. It's worth adding to the blog roll -- after all, you might end up in their Weekend Twitterings roundup just by tweeting something harmless like how you accidentally cut your finger on a toilet seat."

We're famous!Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Mallman & friends cover The Cure!

We love a good cover! City Pages' @gimme_noise tweets a link to Andrea Swensson's article which asks, "What happens when you combine two man-sized rats, a pair of dance-rap nerds, the singer from a psych-rock band, a hip indie rock dude, local piano man Mark Mallman, and the Cure? Well, it turns out you get a fun cover of "Friday I'm in Love," complete with a wintry little music video."

Featuring a cast of local all-stars including ringleader Mark Mallman, Bryan Atchison and Neil Olstad of Koo Koo Kanga Roo, Mike Schwandt of White Light Riot, and Carin Barno of First Communion Afterparty.

The video and song were release in promotion of Mallman's annual New Year's Eve bash at the Varsity Theater, which is always a wild time!



Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Twin Cities art/fashion/music scene elite party at the Rogue Buddha Gallery!

If you didn't rsvp to get on the guest list for this super-secret 1950s-themed holiday soiree hosted by l'etoile and Blacklist Vintage, you certainly missed out! Held at the Rogue Buddha Gallery, local favorites like Christopher Straub of Project Runway, Mark Mallman, and Jeremy Messersmith showed up, as well as a bevy of fashion designers, models, media-types, writers, artists and more. An open bar and tunes from Transmission's Jake Rudh kept the crowd lively well past 2am.

Check out l'etoile HERE for more pix from the party!

Vision Model Agency director Teqen Zéa Aida poses with photographer and fashion plate Ben Frederickson

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Former Hockey Night rockers on the rise in 2010

Former locals and Hockey Night rockers Paul Sprangers and Scott Wells left our fair cities a couple of years ago for Philly, where their new band, Free Energy, was promptly signed to the famed DFA record label. Sprangers' girlfriend, Lauren Schad (fashion designer and former l'etoile contributor), just posted a Facebook status update letting everyone know that Free Energy has been named the #1 band to watch in 2010 by Spin Magazine! Congrats guys!

"Free Energy" from Free Energy on Vimeo.

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Bathroom Confessions

At 3:30 p.m. today, the first ever edition of #3MinutesInTheJohn happened in men's bathroom at Bulldog NE. #3MinutesInTheJohn is exactly what it claims to be -- a three minute interview held in a public bathroom! The mastermind behind the initiative is Jake "@threevolts" Nyberg, who believes "this is the future of journalism" and his first subject was Andrew Eklund of Ciceron fame.

Nyberg is positive that this series will have legs, and he posted this on Twitter just a few minutes ago: "Everything starts small. With a little luck we'll be booking A-Listers for bathroom interviews in no-time." And he really might be on to something, since local Twitterers loved the concept and got especially excited when Nyberg said he'd like to interview WCCO's Jason DeRusha next. We love it!

Here is the interview which Nyberg broadcasted live this afternoon from his Iphone:



Submitted by @marrina.

Jane Belfry vs. Coco and Breezy?

Zing! Local fashion plate, eBay seller and up-and-coming stylist Jane Belfry (formerly known as Jane Magnitude) lists her worst trends of the year, and we have to say we found ourselves LOLing along and agreeing with many of them - though we do think local jewelry designer Aimie Dukes of Ferociter rocks the half-shaved-head look pretty well.


Jane seems to throw in a diss by including a pic of a bunch of peeps wearing Coco & Breezy's line of Gemela Amor studded sunglasses, and we spy Coco and Breezy in the background. Do we sense a Twin Cities rivalry brewing?

UPDATE: Jane just posted this response on her blog: "My post about my least favorite trends of the year that I posted here landed me a little bit of hate mail, a few snarky comments, & an appearant ‘possible fued’ between me and two locals that design studded eyewear. Don’t take yourselves so seriously, my opinions may not be shared by all, I don’t expect them to be. I may be alone in my fight against overstyled celebrities & club goers but my opinions will never change."

For the record, we dig both Jane's classic style and Coco & Breezy's wild street-flavored style!

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

A classic moment in Twin Cities news reporting

City Pages reminds us of one of the funniest news clips to come out of the Twin Cities. In this notorious segment, KSTP reports on a cocaine bust in Maplewood that features a cop passing in the background with a box of, um, "evidence" that definitely brings the LOLs. The clip has been circulatin' the internetz for years but recently resurfaced when it was picked up by Fail Blog. It is now close to half a million views. Kudos, KSTP!



Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Weekend Twitterings

The second edition of Weekend Twitterings is here! Let's see what you guys were up to this weekend:

I really wish I saw that.

Famed DJ ChiChi La Rue stopped by the Gay 90's last night and could not believe the curiosity his outfit had sparked. He was in drag, btw.


Agreed. And that is one mighty mullet.

Recognizing the problem is the first step towards recovery


How does that even happen??


If I cut my finger open on a toilet seat, I would get drunk too.


This is cute and disturbing at the same time.


Bobby had a great night at Epic. I'm jealous.

Submitted by @marrina

Vote P.O.S. for President...er, Rap Artist of the Year

Rhymesayers sent out a tweet today encouraging everyone to vote P.O.S. best rap artist of the year on Spin.com's annual Best of list! Our hometown hero is in the running against such luminaries as Jay-Z, Kanye, and Mos Def! The best part? P.O.S. is in second place, just after Jay-Z. Amazing! Go vote now!

@rhymesayers: Vote for @YEAHRIGHTPOS @ Spin.com's year-end readers' poll. Best rapper.

MN State of Mind

Twitter user @g_rote may have found the best thing I've seen on the local internetz in a while: MN State of Mind. TheAfternoonDLight spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song "Empire State of Mind." Woot, woot! Just to give you an idea of what this homage to our glorious State is all about, here is a sample of their lyrics:

"Welcome to the hottest spot, MOA where we shop In the winter we can get, a DQ banana split Jumping jack, Jumping jack, Jumping jack, now Im tired Minnesota niceness, up here we know how to act"

This part is pretty good too:

" Down W. Germain Street, all black grand prix Turnin up the heat, and slide in the fresh CD Neat, got it at Best Buy, Minnesota loves prince Why do you steal CDs?, I only had four cents".



We love these guys! Much to our delight, we discovered they have a Facebook page too with a hilarious profile pic that we simply needed to show you:

Totally gangsta, I know. When you check out their page, make sure to leave a comment and thank them on behalf all Minnesotans. Word!

@submitted by @marrina.

l'etoile is having a super secret soiree this Saturday!

Are you cool enough to be on this guest list? We think you are. Find out what everyone is whispering about by RSVPing to l'etoile's super secret holiday party this Saturday!

JUBILEE

Saturday, December the 19th, 2009
9 o' clock in the evening

Come socialize and shimmy with your friends from l'etoile and Blacklist Vintage this holiday season! Our invite-only, secret location soiree is sure to jingle your bells, with holiday tunes from DJ Jake Rudh, a bar featuring 1950s-era cocktails courtesy of Phillips Distilling, a lavish Christmas cookie buffet by Cake Eater Bakery and more. Don your best 1950s cocktail attire and meet us under the mistletoe! The secret location will be announced the day before the event to RSVP'd guests.

To RSVP email jubileempls@gmail.com. You'll be informed of the secret location the day before the party via e-mail. The venue is small and intimate and space is limited so RSVP asap to secure your invite!

Sponsored by l'étoile magazine, Blacklist Vintage, Phillips Distilling, and Cake Eater Bakery

Submitted by @letoilemagazine