Doppelgänger Week!

Things go viral on Facebook almost every week; whether it's some random keyboard cat video or women posting color of their bras in support of breast cancer, there's always something fun for us to do on our favorite social network. Remember a few months ago when everybody turned into animated Mad Men characters? That was great. Although we are sad to see that "Jersey Shore Yourself" did not achieve similar success, there is something even better: doppelgänger week.

The description that people have been posting online says :"January 18th starts Doppelgänger week.. during this week please change your profile picture to someone famous you have been told you look like for the week...". Fun! Random celebrity photos started popping out on people's profiles, which ignited all sorts of conversations, because, let's be honest - we all like to think we have a hot celebrity look a like. So, we did some browsing and we found some local peeps who are actually strikingly similar to their celeb doppelgängers.

The Olson Twins aka local writer Kara Nesvig




Michelle Williams aka Songstress Janey Winterbauer



Greg Brady aka l'étoile homie Brian Gioielli



That guy from The Office aka Mike Evans

Thoughts? And photos please!

Elvis Costello & Garrison Keillor live at the Fitz!

Sweet! MPR just sent a yip out about A Prairie Home Companion event at the Fitz that will be broadcast in HD to movie theaters all over the country! It will feature live performances by Elvis Costello, Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele, Robin and Linda Williams, and Heather Masse. Get your tix now before they sell out!

Tickets to the Fitz event HERE (Hurry!)

Tickets to Theater events HERE (no need to hurry!)

Glitterboxxx inaugural house show (video)

Last Thursday, we were in attendance for an off-the-radar show at a new venue mysteriously called the Glitterboxxx. Well, not too mysterious, as evidenced by the consistent dumping of glitter atop the heads of party-goers. The psych-rock-friendly lineup included Leisure Birds, Chelsea Boys, Rupert Angeleyes, Buffalo Moon, and the always-mysterious Moonstone. Sounds like more shows are to come from this fledgling venue, at long as it doesn't get too much attention from "the authorities."

If you missed out, check out this very well-edited, high-def video of highlights from the evening by cinematographer/musician Dan Huiting, with sound by Emmett Turco. (Originally posted via facebook.)

Glitterboxxx Party! from Dan Huiting on Vimeo.

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Weekend Twitterings

An "Ice Ice Baby' weekend, marked by Hip Hop stage brawls, tweetups and all sorts of fun things is behind us. You were as vocal as always on our fave social networking site, and we have collected the best of the best. The new edition of Weekend Twitterings is here!

Yeah, before a bunch of chicks showed up and took over.


This was a doozy. We wrote about it here.



2 celeb re-tweets in one day? How do you do it?


LOL WTF


They do not. We asked our boyfriend.


It is devastating, We know..


Amen, sister.


We can't get enough of this.


We established that we all liked the sound of basketball shoes on the court and that we like Hockey fights.


Was Heidi Montag in town??


LOL x 2


Do "Bump Its" work with dreadlocks?


Ah, Fillman. Always bringing the best kind of weird.


Agreed. Mpls is where it's at! p.s.-Our dentist is NOT hip.


If the twitpic didn't explain it all, we'd think Ackerman was on some sort of drug-fueled freakout. Turns out it was just Vulcans.


We're pretty sure that would work on us too.


Neither do we. We thought it was chewing tobacco.


So does Jonny!



Well, the Vikes lost (of course) but Punch Pizza comes to the rescue (of course)!

Submitted by @marrina and @letoilemagazine

This Week in (Uploaded) Pictures

I Am Homeless posts a great pic of the Bryant Lake Bowl


Tucker Gerrick snaps what looks like a rockin' good time.


Stephen Stephens snaps Chris Larson wearing Susannah Dodge's hair at Honey!


Abby Ekman snaps this hilar pic of her dog in a Vike's jersey. We seriously love dogs in human outfits. We also love weird-looking dogs.


Scott Pollock attends a "Soup Party" and gets some pretty fun shots using a little mirror.


Jennell Jenney snaps this great shot of P.O.S. as he makes a cameo at at Dessa's CD release party at the Fine Line.


Jennell Jenney again, this time capturing the lady of the hour -- Dessa Darling!


KFAI DJ Cyn Collins snaps this pic of Punk Poet Paul D. Dickinson at the Tipi-edition of the Riot Act Reading Series at the Art Shantys on Medicine Lake.


Local journalist Molly Priesmeyer takes a trip to Hondouras and snaps a slew of pix along the way.


Tendercakes DJ Molly Forbes shows off her expanding baby bump!


Greg Neis scores this apt shot of musician, writer and Mad Ripple Hootenany host Jim Walsh at the 331 Club.


Performance artist/photog Jaime Carrera shoots a pal who may have had a few too many at the Bolt Underground!


Sheela and Emily of Cake Eater Bakery pose for l'étoile editor/photographer Kate Iverson



Model Natalya is pleased to meet this cute dog! Photo by Bethany O'Day

Upload a cool shot this week? E-mail a link to omg@letoilemagazine.com to be considered for a future edition of This Week in (Uploaded) Pictures!

submitted by @letoilemagazine

Jeremy Messersmith writes Vikings Fight Song

A new trend perhaps? Hot on the heels of Prince's much talked-about "Purple & Gold" fight song (which we got the pre-exclusive exclusive on), one of our favorite local singer/songwriters, Jeremy Messersmith, was caught on video singing a charming tune dedicated to the Vikes.

Our pals at the Cake in 15 blog caught it on tape, of course!

Jeremy Messersmith - "Let's Go Vikings" from CakeIn15 on Vimeo.

TC Hip Hop Awards disaster!

Once again, the annual Twin Cities Hip Hop Awards at First Avenue turned violent -- this time on stage! Our pal @C_Rocka re-tweeted a blog post by @FranzDiego of Illuminous 3 detailing the events that went down Friday night.

Apparently, while the host was stalling for time before Illuminous 3 went on, a random guy somehow got on stage and started spouting off on the microphone. The host lost his cool after trying to get the guy off the stage and the two started fighting, causing numerous people to rush the stage.

Event promoter Larry Lucio Jr. of Amplified Life says via his blog "When I saw some dude pick up a bar stool and whip it at my head for NO APPARENT REASON, I knew this was way beyond a man-to-man fight. People were taking the opportunity to act a fool. Luckily I dodged the bar stool like George Bush dodged that shoe" (LOL!) He goes on to say "I hope someone did film it so we can see how that situation escalated, from a simple bit of arguing, to a full fleged BRAWL… on the stage… at Historic First Avenue."

If anyone witnessed this or has any pictures or videos send them to us, or post in the comment section below!

UPDATE: Seasoned music critic Chris Riemenschneider blogs about the incident on the Strib's site. Interesting chatter going on in the comments. We have to agree with C.R. -- the reason the event hasn't gotten a lot of major media buzz is that it's badly promoted (at least to the media).

UPDATE: We have video courtesy of Pete Mac at First Ave:



Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Only in Minnesota...

Northeast artist Jeff Lohaus is on a mission to erect a $100,000 statue of a pierogi on Central Avenue. Yes...a pierogi. You know, the food? A nod to the Eastern European culture of Northeast Minneapolis, the "Pierogi Project" will involve Lohaus building and erecting a 17ft bronze monument formed in the likeness of the tasty dumpling, complete with a fork stuck in it.

When asked by the Strib how he plans on tying in the area's more recent Mexican and Asian immigrants, Lohaus says the answer is simple, "Filled and cooked pockets of dough are a nearly universal food. Mexicans call them empanadas. Tibetans call them momo. Nestlé calls them Hot Pockets."

To raise the whopping $100,000 he needs for the project, Lohaus is selling mini versions of the proposed sculpture. In other words, we may see the full size monument erected in 2045 or so. However, if you want to snag your very own hand-cast pierogi, you can visit the artist's website for more deets and contact info.

The comments on the Strib's online article are pretty LOL-worthy, as is the video clip in which a worker at Kramaczuk's Deli thinks James Lileks is giving her an award in the form of one of Lohaus's mini-pierogi statues.

photo by David Brewster for the Star Tribune

Tweetup Meetup

Friday nights are usually busy for everyone, but you seriously must find the time to stop by tonight's MSPTweetup. That is, if you ever wondered what that person with a weird user name with whom you've been exchanging tweets for weeks really looks like. Tweetups can be awkward and awesome at the same time, but they sure are fun. If you get lucky, you might just run into a celebrity at one of those like we did at the last local tweetup (held at Bulldog NE in November).

Out of nowhere and much to everyone's surprise, Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks and an avid Twitterer himself) showed up at the event! Cuban was in town for a business meeting and Kareem Ahmed who organized the tweetup, cleverly decided to ask him to come over if he had nothing better to do. He not only showed up, but was incredibly gracious; he chatted and took photos with almost everybody in the room. We contacted Kareem this morning to ask him if he had another surprise up his sleeve for tonight's tweetup and his response was that no celebrities will be making an appearance. Or maybe they will?

Tonight's tweetup is happening at Grumpy's downtown, 7-10 p.m. and it is a Haiti benefit as well, so bring some change. And don't forget to tag your Tweets with a #msptweetup hash tag. See you there!




Submitted by @marrina

Prince writes Vikings fight song...for real!

We got tipped off by Robyne Robinson that she's got a Prince exclusive tonight on the 9pm news on Fox 9! Apparently, after much Twitter banter on the subject over the weekend (Prince was spotted in a skybox at the Metrodome during last Sunday's game), the Purple One has actually done the deed and whipped up a ditty dedicated to the Vikes.

Robyne, a good friend of Prince, has the exclusive and you can only find out more and hear the song by tuning in at 9pm to Fox 9 News!

UPDATE: Here's the song/video...what do you think?

Prince in the skybox at the Metrodome

Submitted by @letoilemagazine