The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Métis fur-trading voyageurs introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
Raymond Thomas Rybak Jr. is an American politician, journalist, businessman, and activist who served as the 46th mayor of Minneapolis from 2002 to 2014. In the 2001 election Rybak defeated incumbent Sharon Sayles Belton by a margin of 65% to 35%, the widest margin of victory over an incumbent mayor in city history. He took office in January 2002, and won a second term in 2005 and a third in 2009. In late December 2012, he announced he would not run for another term and was going to be concentrating on his family. Rybak called being mayor his "dream job."
The 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican Party's convention fell on Labor Day, the last day of the popular Minnesota State Fair, though because of Hurricane Gustav, this day was mostly a call for action to help victims and formal, required activities; most of the politicking and partying did not start until Tuesday, the second scheduled day.
Gregory Keltgen, better known by his stage name DJ Abilities, is a Minnesota-based underground hip hop producer and DJ signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment. He is a founding member of Eyedea & Abilities alongside the late rapper Eyedea and also Semi.Official alongside rapper I Self Devine. Abilities is a member of 1200 Hobos and was also a member of Atmosphere at one point.
Libera is an all-boy English vocal group founded by the late Robert Prizeman. Libera performs concerts in many countries, including the UK, the US and throughout Asia, and often makes recordings for their own album releases and other projects.
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is a 2002 47-minute documentary directed and co-written by Richard Ray Pérez and Joan Sekler, and narrated by Peter Coyote, about the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida.
Doomtree is an American hip hop collective and record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The collective has seven members: Dessa, Cecil Otter, P.O.S, Sims, Mike Mictlan, Paper Tiger, and Lazerbeak. The collective is known for incorporating a wide range of musical influences into their work with lyrical complexity and wordplay, and their annual "Doomtree Blowout" events held in Minneapolis venues to showcase their group performances and the Twin Cities music scene.
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as a podcast and its mixtape generator.
Highland Park Senior High School is a public secondary school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States serving grades 9 through 12. It is located in the Highland Park neighborhood.
Fancy Ray McCloney is a stand-up comedian and advertising pitchman from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is known for his flamboyant comic persona, once described as "gleefully narcissistic," blending elements of Little Richard, Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Prince, and a tent-revival preacher. He is known for producing and starring in low-budget TV ads for local businesses in the Twin Cities and markets across the U.S., including a Taco Bell ad aired during the 2016 Super Bowl that played off his status as a "local legend." Rarely breaking character on stage or off, Fancy Ray is a buoyantly self-aggrandizing, larger-than-life personality given to spontaneous poetry and mock-boastful proclamations including his oft-repeated characteristic catchphrase "I'm the best-lookin’ man in comedy."
Rifle Sport was an American post punk band active in the 1980s and 1990s, from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The 2008 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose ten representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Brandon Michael Darby is an American conservative blogger and activist. He first became known in the fall of 2005 for actions in New Orleans in efforts to help residents, where he was a co-founder of the Common Ground Collective organized there. It coordinated the efforts of hundreds of volunteers from across the country for years.
Christopher Paul Massoglia is an American television and motion picture actor, and a city council member for Blaine Minnesota's 3rd Ward.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the state of Minnesota. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held on August 14, 2012.
Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America is a documentary film released in 2010 that depicts the issue of domestic violence in the U.S. as told through the personal story of Kim Mosher, a mother of three from Wabasha, Minnesota, and victim of physical and emotional abuse. Finally leaving her husband in 2008 and facing an uncertain future, she succeeds in re-building much of her life, seeking refuge at a women's shelter and forming deep friendships with other victims.
Toki Wright is an American rapper and educator from Minneapolis, Minnesota. His debut solo studio album, A Different Mirror, was released on Rhymesayers Entertainment in 2009.
The Riverview Theater is a cinema in the Howe neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Designed by Liebenberg and Kaplan, the theater was built by theater owners Bill and Sidney Volk in 1948. After building a subsequent theater in a new ultramodern style, the Volks returned to the Riverview in 1956 and had its lobby area heavily renovated and updated. The Riverview remains one of several surviving single-screen cinemas in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area and typically showed second-run films until the COVID-19 pandemic, when it switched to showing first-run movies. Since the early 2000s, it has been consistently recognized by City Pages as one of the best movie theaters in the area.
Chris Strouth is an American, Minneapolis-based musician, producer, writer and filmmaker who has been active since 1986, most notably as the founder and organizer of 1990s/2000s electronica collective Future Perfect Sound System, and most recently as the bandleader and composer for experimental/electronic band Paris 1919. His behind-the-scenes production work includes Indianapolis multimedia artist Stuart Hyatt's Grammy-nominated album The Clouds. Strouth also gained national attention in 2009 when he received a life-saving kidney transplant from a donor who connected with him on Twitter, which is believed to be the first such transplant arranged entirely through social networking.
Robert Hedges, better known by his stage name Muja Messiah, is an American rapper from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been a member of the groups Raw Villa and Villa Rosa. Vibe named him in "51 Best MySpace Rappers" and URB named him in "Next 1000." City Pages also named him the best Minneapolis hip hop artist of 2009.
