Not that we need an excuse to grab a beer on a Thursday night, but Cinco De Mayo makes it easy to say, “mucho cervezas, por favor!”
There will be plenty of fun to choose from around town, but we’re most excited about Remedy’s super-spicy lager, The Remedy Reaper. It’s their Mexican-style lager, always a good sipper, infused with one of the world’s zippiest peppers, the infamous Carolina Reaper. (We might have to order something lighter as a chaser.) They’ll also have the Saucy Boyz grilling up fresh tacos.
Also on the agenda will have to be Woodgrain. The guys are tapping two Mexican lagers: their Duct Tape Piñata, and the new Piñata Lima – think of it as a much better tasting Corona with the lime baked in, saving you the work and the inevitable shot of lime-juice to the eye.
Follow the Yellow-Lined Road! That’s the new Highway 100.
While Sioux Falls will probably never build a decent way to get through town – golf courses, houses, and the meandering river get in the way – we are making big steps in getting people around town.
In the works is the new Highway 100. Or an expanded Highway 11, or Veteran’s Parkway, or what you may still think of as Powderhouse Road. However it eventually gets christened in the minds of Sioux Fallsians, it’s going to be another beltway to get you from 90 on the east side over to 29 on the south side. If you need a preview, just take a look at the current Veteran’s Parkway that runs from the new 90 interchange south past Target and the baseball fields to 57th. Now picture that curving around down behind the 85th street Wal-Mart, all the way to the 271st. interchange on 29.
If this is cutting through your backyard, and you’re upset that you didn’t know about it… well, that’s on you! The city’s been pretty transparent on this one, and has a very informative website with sweet graphics. Take a look!
The land is in place. The developers are salivating. It’s gonna happen somewhere by 2026, all things being equal. Eventually, we’ll be re-defining what it means to live in “central” Sioux Falls. Here’s to hoping we do a little more forward thinking on the zoning and building codes. Growth is good, but let’s not waste farmland on carwashes and shoddy sprawl, ok?
First of all, facts is facts. There’s about a 99.6% chance that our trim-and-fit incumbent, Paul TenHaken, is going to sail through to another term in office. And why not? Things are good in Sioux Falls, overall. Unemployment is crazy low. Construction continues apace. New folks of all stripes are taking a gamble on building a future here. While you may grumble about the Republican choke-hold on South Dakota politics, the old-boys network, and the over-all lack of transparency from the mayor’s office, TenHaken’s arguably more straight-shootin’ than the Sanford-backed Democrat he replaced.
So why David Z? Because we like this guy! He’s as honest as they come. He puts his heart into what he does. And he’s not wrong! Take a look at his website. Everything he addresses – crime, drugs, greed, environmental issues, racism, you name it – is a concern. In other words, this guy cares. He’s smart, spiritual, and he’s always out-and-about, meeting folks and picking up on what’s right and what’s wrong around town.
How, exactly, might he be-the-change-he-wants-to-see? We must admit that remains an open question. Like or not, politics is the sport of twisting relationships into action. Mr. Z would benefit from a stint on city counsel, or the school board, or maybe a role at a non-profit or two.
It’s a long way from A to Z, but bless the guy for dreaming.
Or to quote La La Land, “So bring on the rebels, the ripples from pebbles, the painters, and poets, and plays. Here’s to the fools who dream, crazy as they may seem.”
Well, that couldn’t have been more timely! If you don’t know, Augustana University brings in a top-notch speaker once a year to headline the Boe Forum. They cast the net pretty far and wide – conservatives, liberals, science guys…check out the star-studded list here.
Up last night was Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Dr. Michael A. McFaul, who was dispatched overseas during the Obama administration to try to keep things kosher with the prickly Eurasian powerhouse.
He’s good at working the room, but this one was a little bigger than he was expecting.
This guy mixes some impressive chops – speaks Russian, teaches at Stanford, etc – with a folksy Montana-born appreciation for all of us in fly-over country. As a guy who spent years behind-the-scenes and in-the-room with the most powerful men on earth, he had more than a few good stories to tell.
For obvious reasons he spent the night talking about the Ukraine crises. A few take-aways:
First, don’t blame the current war on conniving NATO expansion! NATO’s embrace of Eastern Europe during the 90’s was at the behest of the new members themselves, not a power play from Washington. They were looking for protection, much as Sweden and Finland are now. They knew what they were up against – the Russian bear had changed it’s name, but not it’s character.
Secondly, he explained why Ukraine was so important to Putin. Vlad believes that Russians are fundamentally different from the West, that they value order and tradition and the state over classical liberal concepts like Democracy and Capitalism. Putin also believes that Ukrainians – people who share a long and tangled history with their neighbor to the north – are, at root, of the same tribe. They just got lost along the way. Therefore, the idea that Russia’s southern brothers would turn towards the “decadent” West is an intolerable contradiction, one that must be fixed with force.
Good food for thought. Anyway…check out the Boe Forum next year. Did we mention that tickets are free? See you there, in 2023!
Swaggy schwag Colleen Green button we picked up the last time around!
Why do we hate Covid? Because it put the kibosh on the coolest scene in town – the indie rock shows at Total Drag! (Well that and loss-of-life, political division, etc., etc…) Slowly but surely, things are changing. The kids are getting back in the vans and heading out to chase rock ‘n roll history once again.
Total Drag is on it, gearing back up with concerts that are always worth checking out. They just announced two new shows that are, in our opinion, unmissable.
The first: Colleen Green on May 19th! We caught her twice at Total Drag in the olden-days, and had a blast each time. She’s a one-man show, but brought a drummer along for the beats her first time out. That was rad, if noisy. The second time it was her and a drum machine. That was our favorite. Set the home-made vibe just right. Not sure who’s she’s touring with now, but we’ll be sure to find out!
The second: Damien Jurado on June 1st! We first got wise to Damien’s evocative troubadour-ing on the soundtrack to Netflix-s cult documentary “Wild Wild Country.” He’s got a string of great albums out there, channeling the vibes Laurel Canyon. 70s smooth, but you know, in the good way.
Pick up your tickets soon – these could be sell-outs!
