Contents
Foreword
Tommy Mischke
Prologue
1. Stay Warm
Just Read the Newspaper
“It Feels Like a Brighter Day”
Citizen Berquist: The Man with the Van
Misanthropes for $500, Alex
Confessions of a Commodore
The Santa Claus Diaries, 1989
2. Nature City
Stop and Smell the Rose Gardens
Lucky Us
Summer of the Super Sunsets
Seize the Light
Loving Lake Harriet
Harriet Lovejoy was Here
Nightswimming
3. Family Ties
From Colombia, with Love
Thanks Given
Finding Henry
Police Off My Kid’s Back
Fire Alarm Fluffy
An Ambulance Chaser Is Born
Letter to a Young Soccer Parent
4. I’m Only One
Thanks for The Skerch, Dad
My Hobby Is Lonely
Why Sylvia? Why Now?
Gold Experience at First Avenue
The Tao of Spring Forest Qigong
Krista Tippett and the Wisdom of ‘On Being’
Fear and Loving in South Minneapolis
Walking the Path
Being the Buddha at Mile 8
5. Hootenanny
Peace, Love, and Bobby Sherman
Mad Ripple
Rings of Fire (Brothers United)
Sing Out!
Minneapolis to Montana
The First Dad Rock Column in the History of Rock Criticism
Hermitage
This Week’s Best Bet: Shhh . . .
Crossroads Again
Dan Israel and the Struggle
Gratitude
That Thing You Do!
Hoot
Inside the Hollow Square: Shape-Note Singing from the Heart
Gather ’Round Children, And Ye Shall Hear A Tale of Standing in Actual Physical Line for Tickets
In Praise of Great Expectations
6. Famous Lasting Words
A Lesson before Dying
Famous Lasting Words
Working Stiffs
Tears in Heaven
Family Man
Notes from Karl’s Bench
The Day David Bowie Died
The Funeral Singer
7. Falling in Love with Everything I Have
Two Hearts are Better than One
Brilliant Disguise
Because the Night
I Wanna Be where the Bands Are (The Autograph Man)
She’s the One
Reason to Believe
Drive All Night (Desperately Seeking Denise)
Glory Days
Back to Minneapolis
Publication History