On the first night of shooting his fifth feature film, John Ervin and his entire cast and crew walked out to the Red Dragon parking lot after nine hours of work to find that all of their cars had been...

The Prairie Tap House stood empty, clean and calm last Saturday morning after a busy Friday night. At about 9 a.m., a few servers began to trickle in to set up for service. They stocked the tables with...

Krista has been entertaining at The Seville, an adult entertainment club, for almost four years. In May, she will graduate from Concordia University, a four-year private school with a $20,000 annual sticker...

Local author Chaun Webster and his wife Verna Wong dreamt for years of opening a bookstore. But instead of offering popular children’s books or anything from the New York Times’ bestseller...

Hip-hop is a freeform artistic expression — the dance element grew from kids in the South Bronx socializing over a boom box and a scrap of cardboard in New York City. When this free, typically un-choreographed...

Minneapolis transplant Erik Anderson worked through the gamut of back-of-house restaurant jobs. From humble beginnings as dishwasher in his mom’s small Village Restaurant in northern Chicagoland,...

The differences between the various types of belly dancing are as nuanced as the dance moves themselves. For some, the words “belly dance” conjure up the image of a woman with a jangly scarf...

Joseph Fessler stepped outside without giving the minus 10-degree weather another thought. He crunched through the snow toward the homemade dog kennels in his backyard, and as he drew closer to the gate,...

Every year at the St. Paul Winter Carnival, a new Royal Family is crowned and oversees the 10-day celebration. But their reign doesn’t end after the big showdown at the close of the carnival, when...

Minnesotans have learned that the only way to survive the winter year after to year is to embrace the cold and make the most of the snow and ice. That would explain the record-breaking 20,000 people who...

Steep Canyon Rangers won the 2013 Grammy for best bluegrass album with their fifth record, “Nobody Knows You.” Though the band was relatively unheard of when they began playing together about...

The bicycling community in the U.S. is dominated by men. According to a 2013 National Bicycle Dealers Association study, 89 percent of cycle shop owners are men. This can make female bikers feel intimidated...

Memorabilia from a 44-year career at the University of Minnesota plaster the walls of Wayne Potratz’s office. The foundry, just outside the sculpture professor’s office door, is arguably one...

Street food stalls on almost every corner in Korea serve a simple yet satisfying dish called ddukbokki (duck-boh-key). It’s a hot food meant to be paired with alcohol, especially on a night out with...

Nate Janke hoisted himself off the ground in his downtown Minneapolis apartment with an orange rope attached to a theater rig. One end of the rope ran through holes in the contraption. The other weaved...

The 85-year-old tan brick building just off East Franklin Avenue and Highway 35W looks virtually abandoned. Perhaps you’ve seen it from across the street at The Electric Fetus or while riding the...

Michael “MJ” Johnson’s imperial partial beard protrudes from his face like two dark-brown, upside-down walrus tusks. The thick, coarse hair starts at his jowls and connects to his mustache...

Everyone’s a critic. Directors, musicians, politicians, and chefs all get a good thrashing in both professional reviews and candid conversation among friends. But what happens when the subject of...

For a brief period every fall, witches, wizards and the supernatural come out to play with the mainstream. It’s a great time to explore some of the practices and lifestyles that are a reality for...

Beats Antique has cultivated a style of performance that looks like a Baz Luhrmann scrapbook.   The California-based tribal fusion band embodies the oddly effective clash between all things Bohemian,...

Jessi Zazu is best known for singing and playing guitar in Those Darlins, a garage rock band from Nashville, Tenn. But lately she’s been drumming up attention for a different venture. In August,...

Mike Etoll’s fascination with horror and gore began with a traumatizing experience when he was about 5 years old. His uncle put him onto a haunted house ride by himself. He had no idea what it was...

After a long, busy week, I can’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful autumn day than by nomming on some scrumptious street food, sipping locally crafted brews and listening to live music outside. The...

Playwright Aditi Brennan Kapil has so much to say about her Indian heritage that she can’t fit it into just one play. So she wrote three. “Originally I tried to write one play, because why...

Apartments could replace the UTEC building — and its many small businesses — in Dinkytown by 2014. The University Technology Enterprise Center currently houses 95 businesses and nonprofit organizations...

Customers at Hard Times Cafe will have to find an alternative hangout beginning August 1. The 18 current owners of the longtime West Bank cafe have decided to temporarily close in order to install new...

A new Ethiopian restaurant recently opened near the University of Minnesota’s West Bank. Dilla’s Ethiopian Restaurant opened June 18 in the former Baldy’s BBQ building between Hard Times...

Milton Square in St. Anthony Park is more than a century old, but the area’s residents have made it a well-kept secret over the years. Serving as a cornerstone of the St. Anthony neighborhood, Milton...

  Construction of a new student housing project in Stadium Village is scheduled to begin in late August. Opus Development Corporation has signed purchase agreements to take over the Mercil’s...

Ahmed Mohamed has been a University of Minnesota custodian for 11 years. He has a wife, three kids and now two stores in the Twin Cities. In mid-June, Mohamed opened U of M Market, a convenience store...

The sign went up more than a month ago, but Smokedale Tobacco in Stadium Village likely will not open until the end of June or later. Owner Hatem Younis said construction problems delayed the smoke shop...

On a busy summer afternoon in Dinkytown, people rush past the small purple storefront tucked between a post office and a head shop, oblivious to the magic within. Magus Books and Herbs will be celebrating...

  Another business will be added to the list of retail clothing stores that couldn’t survive near the University of Minnesota campus. Pacific and Maine, a custom apparel and fashion clothing...

In December 2010, the roof of the Metrodome collapsed, forcing the Minnesota Vikings to play in TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota. Now, with the construction of a new Vikings’ stadium,...

Overnight light-rail construction in Stadium Village has raised complaints from some residents, but is scheduled to end this weekend. A late-night permit for construction on Washington Avenue between Oak...