(I thought fire dogs were supposed to be dalmations?)

Killing time before band practice i drove around and took in the parts of St. Paul around our practice space. The shit to see in the city is amazing. The people. The architecture. The odd groupings of things like this pop stand with it’s own sign advertising the price, connected to the “Home Theatre Electronics” sign from the 1980’s for a business that probably didn’t make it into the 1990’s but nobody bothered to take the sign down. It’s all pretty interesting stuff to stop and look at and wonder about. What ever became of that business? What is the dude up to that’s buying a Coke? Why did he choose Coke over Pepsi?

I bet there’s a hell of a story behind this place. Looks like it used to be an old american greasy spoon diner and was taken over a few years back by some immigrants from the middle east looking to make their fortune in the United States. Doesn’t look like things went to well. What happened? Where are they now? How long did they stay in business? Was the food any good?

Look at that church. That is an amazing piece of architecture. There were many asian people hanging around this place and it made me wonder what type of religion this church would be. I don’t know anything about religion and mostly don’t care, but i wonder if that church used to be a certain type of religion and now it’s changed as the people in the neighborhood have changed. Sort of a recycling of churches.

Here it was, a rainy crappy dreary day and these dudes didn’t seem to mind a bit. The rain didn’t stop them from setting up their 4 piece band and ripping off some tunes for the suit and tie crowd downtown over the lunch hour. And at least the drummer cam prepared. He had that umbrella hooked up to that cymbal stand like a pro. He’s done that move before.

Well, that motorcycle i drew last month that i wanted so bad finally got the best of me and i bought the sucker. It wasn’t easy for the dealer to find since it was last years model, but my dude here pulled one in for me. On the phone he sounded like the cheesiest dude of all time and i was dreading having to go into the dealer to pick it up, but when i got there and met the guy he turned out to be pretty cool. This dude was all about motorcycles...he lived and breathed the suckers. To prove it he had a map up behind his desk that showed all the different motorcycle rides he’s taken across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Amazing. It’s like his job was just killing time for him until the next ride he would take. Luckily for him he found a job that has something to do with motorcycles. Unlike so many people that kill time at their jobs until the weekend or their next vacation and suck at what they do, this dude was actually really good at what he did and had fun doing it and it showed. That’s rare.

I realized about half way down to taco in a bag that the drive was longer than i remembered and that i needed to get back to town early because the band was playing a gig that night and we needed to get a practice in and haul our equipment and all that other bullshit that goes with being in a band. So i kicked the Mini Cooper down. Rolled down the windows. Open the sunroof. Cranked the tunes and made a hell of a drive of it.

Who the hell would drive over 2 hours one way to get something called “taco in a bag”, get right back in their car and drive all the way home? I would!!! Taco in a bag is a yearly tradition that this year almost didn’t happen. Pam was out of town for the big Rochester antique show they call Gold Rush Days where they basically take the whole damn town over with antique and junk dealers. Years ago when we were more into antiquing we got into going down there. Now we don’t go for the antiques, we go for the food. Mainly the taco in a bag. When Pam went out of town i figured we would miss this year, but as i sat around and wondered what to do all day it was too much for me to pass up. So i got in Pam’s Mini Cooper and hit the road. I was not going to let a year go by without having a taco in a bag.

That my friend is taco in a bag. A bag of Fritos chips ripped open and filled to the top with taco meat, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, salsa, sour cream...and of course, Fritos. Stick a plastic fork in the sucker and walk around eating right out of the bag...no fuss, no muss. People stop and stare and wonder what the hell you’re eating...some even stop and ask (which is saying something for Minnesotan’s). I just give them the look like i’m in the know and they don’t know what they’re missing (as my eyes roll back in my head with extasy.

This is the stand where it all happens. There are other stands that serve taco in a bag (even some at this same event), but none come close to the original. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s up there with all the great places a person can visit. It’s almost easy to miss the fact that they serve taco in a bag, and you’d never know that it’s their specialty based on it’s 4th place billing behind corn dogs, mini donuts and cheese curds. Corn dogs??? Please. I have to admit, they do serve up some of the best cheese curds i’ve ever tasted...but they don’t touch the taco i a bag.

After a day of driving to get a taco in a bag i had to get back so we could play a gig at the Hexagon Bar. The show went pretty good. Things got a little bit crazy...and we were loud. “The Hex” has become the rock and roll bar in town, or has been for a couple years i guess. It’s a great place stuck back in a neighborhood and full of people that spend more time at the bar than they do their own homes. It’s a great mix of rocker types and hard drinking blue collar types that think the rocker types are probably crazy...or gay.

I love the rose garden. Do the suburbs have anything like the rose garden? Nope. A place that people can gather and have picnics, have weddings, take pictures, walk their dogs and see a geeky comedian troop do improv. That’s what Buster and i were doing. He loved it with all the people around that of course were there to see him. He walks around the rose garden like he owns the place, it’s pretty funny.

File under “they don’t make em’ like that anymore”. The Hamm Building is serious old school class. They set out to make a building that was classy and worth a shit and they scored huge. I’d be curious to see the type of store that have occupied the street level spaces over the years. Now the building is home to one of the cities best and most fancy french restaurants, a habidashery (which seems like it was always there and never went away, even though it’s only been open about 6 months), and the Artist Quarter jazz bar which is in the basement and one of the coolest jazz clubs i’ve ever seen.