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chrissteller.bsky.social
Chris Steller
@chrissteller.bsky.social
8.1K followers 8.5K following 110K posts
MINNEAPOLIS ALSO: SAINT PAUL This is the ideal BlueSky bio. You should copy it. ALT: Circle is hot dog man putting ketchup on himself. Banner is me as Jimmy Carter
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chrissteller.bsky.social
looks like they had to grind away the topcoat to get a darker surface to paint the symbols on
bicycle and pedestrian lanes marked on a new wide sidewalk pavement on Main Street NE between East Hennepin Avenue and First Avenue NE in Minneapolis.
November 25, 2025 at 12:42 AM
chrissteller.bsky.social
I was zooming in on a site that has been three coffee shops in the Google Streetview Era, kinda interesting, but then I liked this little diorama better
random shapes of furniture lampposts and a person at a storefront window
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 AM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Get a room, Green Line and E Line!
map show two transit lines twisting around each other
November 24, 2025 at 11:36 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
It's telling in that 1974 movie review of the 1972 film "The Harder They Come" how much introduction music writer Michael Anthony feels reggae needs. I'm amused he doesn't mention Eric Clapton who had a recent hit with "I Shot the Sheriff" but skipped MSP on tour. (You could get his LP at Red Owl.)
newspaper ad tamily center Red Owl Stores 10520 FRANCE AVENUE SO. VALLEY WEST SHOPPING CENTER Prices good thru Sat. Aug. 24, 1974. Quantity rights reserved. ALBUM OF THE WEEK Eric Clapton "461 Ocean Blvd." $4.47 ARRID EXTRA DRY Health and Beauty Aids Specials!
November 24, 2025 at 7:17 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Possibly the first time local audiences heard a Jimmy Cliff song performed live was when Taj Mahal covered "Johnny Too Bad" at the St. Paul Civic Center Oct. 25, 1973, per Marshall Fine's review in the Minneapolis Star the next day. Cliff's 1972 film debuted in the Twin Cities in Nov. '74. A review:
Movie 'The Harder They Come' Michael Anthony Folks who have gotten their reggae from Johnny Nash ("Sttr It-Up") or Paul Simon ("Mother and Child Re-union" have a chance to hear and see the real thing this weekend via the University Film Society's screening of Toe-Harder They Come," starring Jimmy Cliff. The reggae (ray-gay) sound, despite a few commercial hits, hasn't exactly swamped the nation, as some were predicting a couple of years ago. Nor did this film, re- leased last year, become a box-office smash. It didn't do for reggae, in other words, what did for bossa nova. "Black Orpheus" But it has remained a cult film in Boston and New York, where reggae bands like The Wallers maintain a large, enthusiastic following. Reggae itself-call it Jamaican rock or calypso-blues - Is so infectious it's hard to imagine why it hasn't taken greater hold here. Basically, what sets the style apart from American pop is its rhythm. The bass drum hits he backbeat rather than the downbeat as it does in most U.S. styles. And, of course, the use of electric gultar differentiates reggae from its Caribbean ancestors (samba, rumba, mambo, etc.). The film, Jamaica's first feature, stars Cliff as a coun try boy lured to Kingston by the dream of making it in music, only to be ripped off by a crooked record mag nate, who tells Cliff, I make hits, not the public. I tell the DJs what to play." Cliff is forced to deal in ganga (marijuana) to keep from starving and ends up an infamous criminal, the people demanding that his record be given air-play just as Cliff is gunned down by a horde of police on the beach. Like the character he plays, Cliff-one of the most popular Jamaican singers-is a country boy who was never paid for his first record. The film makes its impact both as a piece of entertainment and as sociology. And though Cliff's character is hardly a Che Guevera, the story makes its own kind of Third World statement in its implication of the corruption of the entire Jamaican social structure-and the U.S, (where the big money is made in ganga dealing) by extension. Thus, it's not surprising that reggae is unpopular with Jamaica's middle and upper classes. The songs may be dance music but they sing of freedom, as in Cliff's title song. Well the oppressors are trying to keep me down I'm gonna get my share now. what's mine, The hard-they come/The harder they fall, one and all." It's a compelling film that deserves a larger audience. It will be seen 7:30 and 9:30 tonight, Saturday and Sun-say at the Bell Museum of Natural History. Star Tribune › Fri, Nov 01, 1974 › Page:
November 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Today is what the exposure guide on the little slip that came folded inside a box of Kodak film would call "hazy bright"
downtown minneapolis skyline
November 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Jellybean Johnson's obit article is on the front page of today's The Minnesota Star Tribune
front page printed newspaper with headline An architect of the Minneapolis Sound
November 24, 2025 at 1:30 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Rarely do you see two back-to-back skeets that meet the ideal 15- or 16-word length, posted at exactly the same time, each boldly staking out a crystal-clear assertion, universe be damned.
November 24, 2025 at 3:32 AM
chrissteller.bsky.social
i thought this was going to be about Jewel
Arts&Leisure the New lork Eimes A DANCER IS A BODY, AND A MIND cover of arts section of printed newspaper has large black and white photo of blonde white woman with arms up in street clothes
November 24, 2025 at 2:16 AM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Cuz I-I-I-I ...
Want somebody to shovel
I need somebody to shovel
I want somebody to shovel with me
famous photo of Zygi Wilf and Mark Dayton shoveling dirt for US Bank Stadium
November 23, 2025 at 8:02 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
This post just got liked by a leaf.
Notifications screenshot of a Canada flag maple leaf image for a Bluesky account that Liked the quoted post about raking
November 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Jesus rides beside me
Never buys any smokes
Hurry up, ain't you had enough of this stuff
Ashtray floors, dirty clothes and filthy jokes
Pope Leo II holding a mic like he's singing intently in the meme photo
November 23, 2025 at 4:08 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Thanks!

(... what are the chances?)
The house on Bryant Avenue South in Minneapolis where the Replacements "Let It Be" album cover photo was taken.
November 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
A book titled "Lead Belly: A Life in Pictures" (that I can only see snippets of online) indicates that same month he also performed at Macalester College in St. Paul; Grand Rapids Junior High in Grand Rapids, MN; and Carleton College in Northfield, MN.
Lead Belly: A Life in Pictures Macalester College. St. Paul. Nov. 1948 University of Minnesota. Duluth. Nov. 1948 Grand Rapids Junior High, Minnesota, Nov. 1948 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Nov. 1948 Superior State College, Wisconsin, Nov. 1948 Carleton College, Minnesota. Nov. 1948
November 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
The plot thickens. Now Lead Belly's Minnesota-Wisconsin tour itinerary in Nov 1948 , as documented in local newspaper announcements, seems impossible. How could he play in Superior, Wisconsin (next to Duluth) at 9:45 am Friday (as this states) and at St. John's University at 10:50 am the same day??
The Evening Telegram Wed, Nov 17, 1948 • Page 5 Negro Singer To Entertain At College HUDDIE LEDBETTER
November 23, 2025 at 3:28 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
In a somewhat hopscotch manner, Lead Belly's U of MN-organized tour of Minnesota college campuses in November 1948 went:
Wed, Nov 20: Duluth, 8pm
Thu, Nov 21: Minneapolis, 11am
Fri, Nov 22: Collegeville, 10:50am
HUDDIE LEDBETTER In UMD Folk Song Program Pre-eminent as a singer of folk music, Huddie Ledbetter will present a program of songs in a publie evening performance at 8 p. m. Wednesday at the University of Min-nesota, Duluth branch. Ranked as "the greatest liv. ing American folk singer" by the Saturday Review of Liter-ature, Ledbetter is best known among his followers as "Lead Belly." The vibrant voice of the Negro folk singer has been heard on the plains of Texas, where he worked as an expert rider; in the oil fields of the south, where he worked as a boomer, and in the work gangs of state penitentiaries in Louisiana and Texas. Famed Negro Folk Singer in Concert At St. John's Friday 10:50 am St. John's University auditorium in Collegeville brief article about upcoming concert St. Cloud Times
November 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Do we know where the house was??
'Lead Belly' to Sing at 'U MINNEAPOLIS MORNING TRIBUNE November 17, 1948 short news item about upcoming 11am concert at Northrop Auditorium
November 23, 2025 at 2:08 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Album cover with vaguely similar design: orange with central decorative illustration figure joe strummer and the mescaleros, streetcore
November 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
5 pm Central Time
darkness at ground level: a walkway, a yard bag on its side, the faint outline of a parked car and bare tree silhouettes, the sky a sickly yellow and periwinkle
November 22, 2025 at 11:02 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
How it How it's
started going
movie poster with two young women dancing The Last Days of DISCO HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT. The last day of Route 6 service will be Dec. 5, 2025.
November 22, 2025 at 8:42 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
On Dec. 6, 2025, Route 6 will be retired and replaced by the new METRO E Line, offering faster and more reliable service. New Route 36 will replace some local Route 6 service along Hennepin and Xerxes avenues between Uptown Transit Station and Edina.
November 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
New font just dropped: "Peeling Bistro"
letters stuck in storefront window are peeing: BISTRO
November 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Late Capitalism
animal skulls in a shop window with a double billboard reflected in the glass
November 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
Here is the 2021 Jellybean Johnson article in screenshots and ALT text
At 64, Minnesota music hero Jellybean Johnson makes his solo guitar debut Thanks to the pandemic, the drummer for the Time got a chance to finish something he's wanted to do for a long time. By Jon Bream March 19, 2021 You notice him. It doesn't matter if he's onstage or standing in the back of the club. You notice Jellybean Johnson. At 6-feet-4, he is basketball tall. Crowned by a top hat, or maybe it's a fedora tonight. He's wearing a faux fur jacket, or maybe it's a sequined suit. A polka dot shirt, or maybe it's a flashier pattern. You notice Johnson because he's a fixture in Twin Cities music clubs on any given pre-pandemic night. He might be a supportive observer or sit in for a song or two. Or he might be in the band, playing guitar. That's not how he made his name. Johnson — Bean to his buddies — is known as the drummer for the Time. They started 40 years ago when Prince gave them a shot at a recording contract. Johnson is still the drummer for the long-since-rebranded Morris Day & the Time. Before the COVID shutdown, they were averaging about 50 gigs a year. The pandemic gave Johnson a chance to finish something he's wanted to do for a long time — his debut solo album as a guitarist, "Get Experienced." "We're in the fourth quarter now. I just wanted to put something out before they put me in the ground," said Johnson, who is 64. "I've spent most of my musical life backing up my friends and other people. Frankly, I never wanted to be the boss. I just wanted to leave something that was me — that I was responsible for." Johnson can play guitar in all kinds of styles — blues, heavy rock, hip-hop, Princely funk, classic rock — as he demonstrates on the album. He doesn't sing. He didn't even write any of the tunes. Billing the project as the Jellybean Johnson Experience, he teamed with younger players including Tracey Blake, L•A•W, iLLism, and former Prince protégée Ashley Támar Davis as well as old pals Chance Howard and blues star Ronnie Baker Brooks. "Bean has his own voice as a soloist," says veteran Los Angeles producer Oliver Leiber, another drummer-turned-guitarist who has known Johnson since the mid-1980s. "It sounds soaring and it sounds big and it sounds majestic and it's got some fire. And it's kind of egoless." There is a moment in every selection on "Get Experienced" when, despite his sideman's mentality, Johnson's guitar grabs you — his wiry rave-up on the blues-funk "Put Some Jelly on It," his jazz-fusion journey on the cuddly jam "Energy," his searingly soulful solo on a tasty remake of Latimore's sexy groover "Let's Straighten It Out." Praise from Miles Davis Johnson has been serious about guitar for a long time. He took a few drum lessons at age 13 after moving to Minneapolis from Chicago as a preteen, then taught himself guitar two years later after a cousin left one behind. As a teenager growing up on the R&B of KUXL radio and the rock of KQRS, he played drums in the band Flyte Tyme and basketball at Marshall University High School. It was a Flyte Tyme gig at the old Flame Bar on Nicollet Avenue, in front of an audience of no one, that gave Garry Johnson his nickname. Afterward, the trumpeter told his mates: "We sounded really bad tonight. We sounded like a bunch of jellybeans." As Johnson tells it, he looked at the drummer and said, "Jellybeans. Jellybean Johnson." "And the next night he comes back to the Flame, and he hands me a T-shirt made with 'Jellybean Johnson' on it." Johnson attended the University of Minnesota, but Prince recruited the members of Flyte Tyme to be a new full-time band backing drummer-turned-singer Day — the Time. The R&B ensemble scored such hits as "777-9311" and "Cool," opened for Prince on tour, appeared in the movie "Purple Rain" and then broke up. Johnson ended up in a Prince-produced Time spinoff, the Family, with other Purple associates. The Family released a debut album (featuring the original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U"), played one show at First Avenue and dissolved while Prince was in Europe filming "Under the Cherry Moon." Johnson moved on to become a staffer at Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' hit factory, Flyte Tyme Productions. He wrote and produced hits for Alexander O'Neal and Mint Condition and collaborated with Janet Jackson on her guitar-propelled rocker "Black Cat." "My coming-out party on guitar was on 'Innocent' for Alexander O'Neal," Johnson said. He had a confidence-boosting encounter at Paisley Park with jazz giant Miles Davis, who praised the guitar solo on "Innocent." "When somebody the caliber of Miles Davis tells you something, that just changed my whole guitar world," Johnson reminisced. "Prince told me later: 'Bean, if he tells you that, you can take that to your grave.' " But unlike Day, Jam and Lewis, and others from Prince's court, Johnson says he never landed a big payday. He mostly received a salary. "I never got paid for a Time record all these years," he moaned. He did get a handsome check in 1990 when the Time reunited for the album "Pandemonium" in conjunction with Prince's third film, "Graffiti Bridge," but claims he received one-third of what Jam, Lewis and Time guitarist Jesse Johnson pocketed. "There was no reason I should have been struggling. I went through bankruptcy in 2008 or 2009," he said. "People think I'm rich. I've had one new car in my lifetime — a 1994 4Runner that I ended up with 300,000 miles on." For Johnson, though, it's never been about the money. "Jellybean is someone who loves music for music's sake," said Paul Peterson, who has played with Johnson in the Time, the Family and fDeluxe. "He's out every night playing. I'm sure this pandemic has not been easy for him." Johnson lives to spend his nights in clubs, "to the detriment of my family life," he said. (He has seven kids, ages 15 to 39.) "I don't apologize for that. I have a lot of musical family — Black and white — that have always appreciated me." Sitting in with other bands enables Johnson to keep his guitar chops up. He doesn't practice at home unless he's got a recording session. The only time he plays drums is on gigs with Morris Day & the Time. In his Brooklyn Park townhouse, he never uses his electronic drum kit. From 2003 to 2012, Johnson hit the road as a guitarist with Chicago bluesman Ronnie Baker Brooks, including an annual blues cruise in the Caribbean. He also plays guitar in fDeluxe, the new moniker for the Family, which reunited in 2011 and has released 1 live and 2 studio albums. Along the way, Johnson has accumulated 120 guitars. ...In a normal year, he plays about 25 to 30 of them. "I live alone," he said. "I joke with people that the only things here with me are my guitars, my clothes and my hats. I have well over a hundred of those, too. I have the top hats and I have the pimp hats and the gangster hats. I've got a bunch of derbies." Every Wed, Johnson dons one of those hats, grabs 2 guitars and heads to the MN Music Cafe, where he has been playing with JayBee & the Routine for years. "There's a humility to Bean," Leiber said. "He'll go out 5, 6 nights a week and sit in these clubs still, even though he also flies out to headline shows with the Time. He never lost that working musician's mentality." Or as Peterson put it: "Whether it's in front of three people or 30,000, he doesn't treat it any different. I think it just feeds his soul."
November 22, 2025 at 4:34 PM
chrissteller.bsky.social
A potato has been named after Prince.
U's Paisley Purple potatoes strive for 'Honeycrisp' success Path to broader appeal is long road to hoe. By COLE REYNOLDS For the Minnesota Star Tribune In a 1998 interview, the Spice Girls' Mel Basked the Artist Formerly Known as Prince what she should call him. He decided on "Spud," but could only offer a coy smile as an explanation. Twenty-five years later, it looks more like a premonition. Geneticists at the University of Minnesota have created a new purple and yellow potato, naming it the Paisley Purple after the artist's Chanhassen studio. It's at a handful of local farmers markets and on the tasting menu at Alma, a fine-dining restaurant in Minneapolis. Andas the "Purple Rain" musical ends its run at downtown's State Theatre, the potato serves as a starchy ode to the late artist. But like the musical and its namesake artist, the Paisley Purple faces a long road out of the Twin Cities. Grocery stores SEE PURPLE POTATO ON E6' MATTI SPRAGUE • Provided by Alma The Paisley Purple potato was developed by the University of Minnesota and is on the menu at Alma.
November 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM