Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Happy First Avenue Day!

This just in, via First Avenue twitter: "Mayor Rybak has declared April 3 (our 40th birthday) First Avenue Day." Congratulations!

The proclamation you see in this photo says the following:

Proclamation

WHEREAS; First Avenue is celebrating forty years as an independent music venue; has been committed to fostering art, music and entertainment excellence, from the avant-garde to the mainstream; and

WHEREAS; First Avenue transformed an old bus depot into an international icon and the premier downtown danceteria and music venue in the Twin Cities; and hosted performances by Joe Cocker, R.E.M, Ike & Tina Turner, Motörhead, Modest Mouse, Beck, B.B. King, GWAR, Beastie Boys, Pavement, Wu-Tang Clan, Iggy Pop, U2, Wilco and more; and

WHEREAS; First Avenue is committed to continuing its historical role as a testing ground and launch pad for local artists including Prince, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Morris Day and the Time, Soul Asylum, Atmosphere and other Rhymesayers artists, The Hold Steady, Trip Shakespeare, The Jayhawks and many others; and

WHEREAS; First Avenue has held fundraising events benefiting both local and national charities; provided Thanksgiving dinners for those without; and is constantly finding ways to give back to the community; and

WHEREAS; First Avenue holds countless unforgettable memories; has amplified legendary guitars; has been famously featured in Purple Rain; and has continually provided nights of wild dancing on its legendary dance floor; and

WHEREAS; First Avenue has been recognized as one of the best places to see live performances by music fans worldwide; has captivated millions of customers and has welcomed bands in the tens of thousands; and has even made a couple exceptions to its “no stage diving” rule to accommodate yours truly.

Now, therefore, I, R.T. Rybak, Mayor of the City of Minneapolis, do hereby proclaim Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 to be

FIRST AVENUE DAY


Submitted by @marrina.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Gayngs: "Best album of the year so far" according to the UK's Guardian

Mysterious local supergroup, Gayngs, tweeted/facebooked some cute news today: They've apparently been sending out review copies of the new album overseas, and got a HUGE nod from The Guardian (UK) when music critic Paul Lester called the album "the best album of the year so far." Pretty awesome! We can't wait to get our copy (wink wink).

Want a taste of Gayngs? Just last week they released their first single, "The Gaudy Side of Town." It kind of reminds us of indie rockers soundtracking the show Moonlighting. Cool, Gayngs!

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Hellz Yeah

Submitted by @marrina.

Latest Tumblr Meetup Announced

The date and location for the fourth edition of Twin Cities Tumblr Meetup was announced this morning: Saturday April 17th, 4 PM at Psycho Suzy's Motor Lounge.

See you there!

Submitted by @marrina.

King's Wine Bar + Jake Rudh

The ever so popular Kings Wine Bar is premiering their DJ night next week. Guess who the DJ is going to be? Mister Jake Rudh! You know this is going to be great, right?

Here's the scoop from King's Twitter: "Excited about our new series MUSIC with DJ Jake Rudh. First Tuesdays @ Kings. April 6th:'Yacht Rock' A tribute to American soft rock stars."

Submitted by @marrina.

Bye Bye Gameworks

First Bellanote, then Hooters and now Gameworks? It seems half of block E will soon be moving out and we can only hope something more appealing comes in. Kieran's successfully took over the old Bellanote space and we can safely assume that similar establishments will want to get into Block E (read: want to get close to the new Twins stadium). How are people feeling about Gameworks though? We collected some Twitter/Tumblr comments:

North of MPLS: " Please take Applebees with you."

Noraborealis: " kind of ruins my super-ironic block e pub crawl idea now, doesn’t it?'

SpikeyAngel87 :"GAMEWORKS IS CLOSING!!!! WE NEED TO HAVE A "GAMEWORKS DAY" BEFORE IT CLOSES! WHO'S WITH ME?!?!?!?!"

mmarcotte7186 : "
Shame on @CityMinneapolis for not supporting the businesses in Block E. Gameworks has now closed. What a waste of taxpayer money."

letoilemagazine : Maybe they'll re-open Moby Dick's?

Submitted by @marrina.

New Zoo Animal vid = Awesome

OMG. We love, love, love the new Zoo Animal vid for "Sailor" (as remixed by Mark McGee of To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie). So moody and cool! And it's really no wonder, considering how beautiful the song is, and the fact that it was directed by Lamb Lays with Lion visionary, Jeremy Catterton, and shot and produced by the film gurus at Northern Outpost.

ZOO ANIMAL - "Sailor" (remix) from Northern Outpost on Vimeo.



Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Monday, March 29, 2010

Kelsy Osterman does hair for rock icon

l'etoile peeps Jahna Peloquin and Chris Larson have been reporting on their respective facebook accounts that hairstylist Kelsy Osterman, Twin Cities native and stylist for Eclecticoiffeur and Juut Salonspa, has been doing hair for a certain rock goddess pictured below. Kelsy moved to New York last fall to pursue her hair styling career with Cutler Salon, and obviously she's making us proud! We can't wait to hear the stories...

Here's the person in question spotted on the day she is said to have received hair TLC from Miss Kelsy:

[New York, March 25. Image from Bauer-Griffin via Jezebel.]

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

The Record Room

@firstavenue just gave us a teaser of what their new Record Room will look like. Here's a sneak peak at the mural made by local artist Greg Gossel:


We like!

Submitted by @marrina.

City Pages debuts new art and fashion blog

We've had a hard time keeping a lid on this because we're so excited, but our pals at City Pages have just debuted a brand new blog: The Dressing Room! Focusing on fashion and art (and basically anything cultural that isn't music-related -- they'll leave that up to Gimme Noise) the new blog will feature awesome articles and interviews with Twin Cities creatives. Today's debut even includes a couple interviews (by yours truly!) with local art darling Jennifer Davis and jewelry maker/Fox news anchor Robyne Robinson (who, if you read LOL/OMG last week, you'll know just scored a gig making jewelry for Beyonce!)

We're diggin' the new look of City Pages website too!

Click HERE to check out the Dressing Room!




Bookmark it, it's going to be good.

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Cupcake Mania

If you're a social media junkie like we are, you've most likely caught the buzz about the soon-to-be-opened Cake Eater Bakery via Twitter or Facebook. And today the official announcement was tweeted: Cake Eater will open to the public next Monday! Cupcake gurus and LOL/OMG pals Sheela Namakkal and Emily Harris make some of the sweetest and most creative treats in town (trust us, we've tried them!) and we're pretty sure their new shop -- located in the old Cliquot Club space -- will be a smash hit. Personally, we plan on being regulars and may even take our cupcakes with a side of wi-fi, so we can blog at you while getting sugar high.

Opening to the public next Monday, April 5th, Cake Eater will have many sweet AND savory items as well as Intelligentsia Coffee to get ya wired. The shop boasts a fun "Bollywood meets Marie Antoinette" theme with a punk rock twist and will even host regular cupcake happy hours. So cute!!!


Submitted by @letoilemagazine

This Week in (Uploaded) Pictures

Jimmy Gaines discovers a cool old pic of Paul Westerberg and Alex Chilton. Photo by Ted Barron.

Local gal Tracey Mere travels to Nepal and gets some cool shots.


Denis Jeong Plaster does his weekly photo booth at Too Much Love and gets this awesome shot -- looks like an ad campaign! Full slideshow at citypages.com


The boys of Rogue Citizen do some live painting for a good cause at the Ivory Tower Art Auction.


Former Minneapolitan, Mikal Arnold, plays photographer for a day while on the job in Spain with local Journalist, Steve Marsh. Arnold says of this pic, "Marsh got me a position as an official photographer for the Osasuna-Barça game. I felt like a Make-A-Wish kid who´s wish got mixed up with that of someone else."


Christian Erickson gets this iconic shot of the Turf Club at the "Jennefit."


Photographer Jen Barnett gets an amazing shot of Downtown Minneapolis and the new Twins Stadium.


The lovely Inari Min debuts a new Facebook profile pic, just in time for her move to New York. Gotta make an impression, right? Photo by Serah.


David De Young goofs around with a Pez dispenser at King's Wine Bar. Neat shot!


A 5-year old took this. Cool composition! Edited by Christina Bowers.


A dude checking out selected works of interactive design at the AIGA Design Show at the Walker Art Center's Skyline Room. Nice view! Photo by C. Erickson.


Alex Uncapher snaps peeps having an awesome time at Bomp at the Bedlam Theatre. Full slideshow at CityPages.com


Amanda Hankerson scores this epic pic of a bingo caller at a Fish Fry at St. Albert's Church on Friday. Awesome!

Upload a cool pic this week? Send us a link to omg@letoilemagazine.com to be considered for next week's edition of This Week in (Uploaded) Pictures!

Submitted by @letoilemagazine and @marrina

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Weekend Twitterings

Spring is in the air and all sorts of interesting things went down this weekend. Mayor sightings, clown sightings (?), Twitter accounts getting hijacked, etc, etc. Enjoy the newest edition of Weekend Twitterings!


We think they're already doing that in Williamsburg.


Scream!!!


LOL. Gross.


Twins Crepes?


We think we caught this from @winnerbowzer. We also like how she listed "booze" as a possible remedy.


Sad, but true.


We can always count on @cecilmenk for solid life advice!


The REAL Mayor went out for a beer.


And he Tweeted about it too!


Yes, Marrina. We'd expect nothing less. xo-l'etoile


Ah, the local literati have such a way with words.



This tweet needs no catchy one-liner.


Ok then.


Awww...memories.



Hey, at least he's honest.


Better safe than sorry! You never know what the Purple one will do (remember that weird Vikings fight song?)


Teach it like you preach it @sneakfetish!


One day the kids are wearing neon spandex, the next, bunny ears.


Ben's Twitter account got hijacked on Saturday night, resulting in a series of hilarious tweets. This Rentzi person needs to get a Twitter account ASAP.


Submitted by @marrina and @letoilemagazine

Klingons crash the red carpet

You may recall a post we did awhile back about sponsoring a bunch of Klingons to go to an awards ceremony. Cake decorator Marie Porter of Celebration Generation was nominated for a "Star Award" for her creation of a super fancy Klingon War Bird CAKE. Awesome, right? Marie and her merry band of Klingons put out a plea for donations to help them all go to the awards ceremony -- in full Klingon gear, of course.

Well, their plan worked out, and thanks to the help of generous local nerds, the group was able to hit the red carpet at the Star Awards ceremony in style. Marie posted a slew of pics via Facebook, and although she didn't take home the award in her category (robbed), she clearly had a great time!

Bonus gossip: Marie Porter is creating something special to be included in a l'etoile fashion photo shoot next weekend!

Klingons at the Star Awards being all high-tech
with watches and cellphones. Futuristic!
Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Matt Scharenbroich debuts new Lookbook t-shirt design

We're loving the new t-shirt design by Matt Scharenbroich for local electro two-some Lookbook. After his various poster art designs for local bands Grant Cutler and the Gorgeous Lords (for which Matt happens to play drums) and Zoo Animal, this will be the illustrator's first foray into t-shirt design. (Here's a little added trivia for you - Matt used to be the drummer for seminal Minneapolis post-punk band The Plastic Constellations.)

As Matt says via his facebook page, "Made this new drawing for the band Lookbook. It's gonna be printed with ink on t-shirt material, then you can wear it on your body." We want one!

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Friday, March 26, 2010

Brian Gioelli for One Man Minneapolis

Fancy! We found out via facebook that l'etoile ad man and BFF Brian Gioielli has been nominated as a finalist for the annual One Man Minneapolis contest. The multi-faceted professional event calls out one guy who represents the best of the Twin Cities, keeping in mind community involvement, personality, intelligence and fitness. We can't think of any man more suited for the honor!

[Photo courtesy One Man Minneapolis]

Brian is not only super cool and worthy of your votes in and of himself - he also promises to donate $2,500 to the Minneapolis YMCA homeless outreach program of POINT Northwest, $500 to the Animal Humane Society, and $1,000 to Dress for Success, in which case he will enlist the styling team of l'étoile to put together outfits for women in need of job-appropriate clothing.

You can vote for for Brian every day at www.onemanminneapolis.com. You can meet Brian and the rest of the finalists during the upcoming "Meet the Men" happy hours, beginning April 14.

Communist Daughter featured on The FADER

Yet another local band is making waves nationally. Today, Communist Daughter's Adam Switlick posted a link via his facebook page to ultra-hip music blog The FADER's blurb about the first single off its upcoming album, "Not the Kid" (which has come into regular rotation on 89.3 The Current). FADER says:

“Not The Kid” is both first single and leaf-turning mpfree from that project and it is a JAAAMMMMM.


Click the link to listen or here for a free download of the track.

The band's Current-sponsored CD release show is happening April 2 at the Fine Line. Click here for the facebook invite.

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Robyne Robinson to design jewelry for Beyonce

We had the inside scoop from the local jewelry designer and newscaster herself a few weeks back, but now it's official: Robyne Robinson will be designing custom jewelry for none other than Beyonce! (She made the big announcement today via her facebook account.)

[Robyne Robinson photographed by Kate Iverson]

Her line ROX has long had esteem locally for its mix of semi-precious stones and metals in configurations both bold and feminine. Most recently, Robyne was enlisted by l'etoile to create jewelry for Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman's Spring 2010 line during New York Fashion Week last fall, and this spring she is creating a line for Emma Berg's spring line at Voltage 2010.

Congrats, Robyne!

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

#1

Lookie, lookie.. (via Aaron's Hotlinks)



Submitted by @marrina.