Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

One thing I love about my new apartment is the location: it's close enough to downtown I can walk there, it's near the Wedge so I'm in the middle of lots of stuff, and there aren't drug dealers and prostitutes prowling the streets and alleys all day/night. Now I just have random hippie people wandering the alleys, but those don't bother me. :)

I walked to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (next to the Walker Art Center) today. I've been there before but hadn't paid much attention to it as I was only there for the mini-golf that time. It's an interesting place, although the roving gangs of schoolchildren this morning detracted a bit from the experience. I was mostly able to keep away from them and really enjoyed wandering around and taking my time to look at things.

The north end has a small garden/walkway area which was pretty cool. Not a lot of sculptures down there but very pretty nonetheless.

One of the sculptures slightly south of the garden area:

The famous/iconic spoon with cherry:

At the south end is a rectangle formed by marble topped benches, each with a different inscription. Some are a bit bizarre, but I laughed out loud at a bunch of 'em. They're so random that they catch you by surprise. I'm still laughing because they're just so random and kind of stupid - but that's what makes it so great.

I think these 2 are linked in a way.



This one is serious, timely and oh-so-true.

And this is one is just kind of random. Not much more I can say about it.

Since the Walker is only 10-15 minutes away on foot, I'm sure I'll get down there again on a routine basis. More photos are here.

Green Day concert

Not really a trip but definitely an adventure. Thanks to Bryan's friend who couldn't go, I got a free ticket to one of the best concerts ever.

After the four of us had dinner at Buca, we walked over to the Target Center and took our spots on the floor. The opening act was The Bravery and were actually pretty decent, with a lead singer who sounded like Robert Smith from the Cure. Their 30 minute set seemed much shorter than that.

After a 30 minute break to change out the stage and stuff, Green Day took the stage and went crazy. I don't even remember all the songs and the order, but they were awesome. One of the more political bands around, they've still retained their sense of humor (unlike Bono and U2). They pulled random fans onto stage to sing and play guitar and just generally enjoyed themselves up there. Even the obligatory covers they did ("Let's Go Crazy" by Prince, "Shout", "Stand By Me" and others) were fun and entertaining instead of distracting and indulgent. The show lasted about 2.5 hours, including a 40 minute encore, and I believe they could've played awhile longer without dragging things out.

I don't have photos - not much point in that as a concert is all about the music and the moment and a few random snapshots can't convey that spirit. If you ever get the chance to see Green Day live, go for it.