Buzz

City Pages has compiled a list of the top local clubs "to see bands before they break big."

"We are truly fortunate to have plenty of intimate rooms here in the Twin Cities, where local and national bands alike can find their footing in a live setting while building a solid reputation within the Minnesota music community--a rep that will follow them as they return to the area to play bigger clubs to match their rising profile," the story reads.

The Triple Rock Social Club, Turf Club and 7th St. Entry are among the most-established venues for seeing artists that have gone on to play for bigger audiences.

But the list also includes some new clubs, like the Icehouse in Minneapolis and the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St. Paul. The Amsterdam has already "seen its fair share of breakout acts, including Cloud Nothings' rousing first local performance...and the emergence of the Girls Got Rhythm Festival."  

A recent Gallup survey shows that Twin Citians "have the highest sense of personal security among Americans living in the nation’s top metro areas," the Star Tribune reports.

Of those interviewed, 80 percent of locals responded that they feel comfortable walking around at night.

That's a couple of points ahead of Denver and Raleigh, N.C., while the national average is 72 percent.

The results are compiled as a part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, the Star Tribune story reads.

Online restaurant reservation website Urbanspoon singled out the country's most popular restaurant bars and four Minneapolis eateries landed on the list.
 
Bar La Grassa, 112 Eatery, George and Dragon, and Tilia were included on the list of 200 popular U.S. restaurant bars.
 
Urbanspoon included selections from 101 cities across 33 states, and selected the most popular based on reviews from food critics, bloggers, and Urbanspoon users. Florida claimed the most spots on the list with 31 entries, while Ohio and Missouri rounded out the top three.
 
In addition to selecting specific restaurant bars, Urbanspoon also noted a few trends in its results. Beer proved to be a defining feature for a number of the bars chosen, and on the liquor side, restaurants that offer specialty cocktails and house-infused spirits tended to get a place on the list.

Travel research site TravelNerd recently noted that airports are increasingly providing kid-friendly amenities to appeal to a range of travelers, and released the results of a study that highlighted the best and worst airports for kids.
 
Based on the number of nurseries and play areas, as well as kid-friendly activities, Minneapolis-St. Paul made the top 10, squeaking in at number nine, just ahead of Seattle-Tacoma.
 
"In honor of the creator of Snoopy, a Minnesota native, there is a Snoopy statue in Terminal 1 near one of two kid play areas," the article notes about the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. "To feed the baby, head to Terminal 1 Concourse C for a private mothers room. P.S. If you forgot extra diapers, a pacifier or sippy cup, there is a vending machine with kid essentials in Terminal 1’s kid play area."
 
The top three airports for kid-friendly amenities are San Francisco, Portland, and San Jose. Dubbed the worst airports for kids are Atlanta, Denver, and JFK.

A St. Paul grocer landed on the cover of Wells Fargo & Company’s recently released 2012 annual report.   

The annual report leads with an anecdote about Shua Xiong, owner of Golden Harvest Foods, and his conversation with a banker. Eventually, Wells Fargo helped to finance the store’s remodeling project.  

Conversations like this “are also a beginning because they often lead to something more. A deeper relationship. A great idea. A way to solve a problem. That happened over the course of their relationship,” when banker Abby Ward recommended treasury management and equipment finance services to Xiong, the report states.

“Relationships like these are a Wells Fargo staple because they help our customers succeed financially," the report adds.

Efforts in St. Paul schools to serve nutritious lunches are getting props on a national level, according to the Pioneer Press.

On March 26, an official delegation comprising state and federal representatives dropped by Crossroads Elementary to see it in action.

The delegation wanted “to learn more about the district's all-out health-food kick and its bid to get a head start on stricter federal school lunch rules, announced earlier this year,” the story states.

New USDA guidelines require schools receiving federal funding to cut down on sodium and boost whole grains, an area where St. Paul schools are ahead of the curve, according to the story.

Brand consulting firm Interbrand recently released its annual list of "Best Retail Brands" in the nation, and Minnesota-based Target and Best Buy both found a spot.
 
Target was second on the list, just behind Walmart. The retailer's sales and revenue grew last year, and store remodels helped to freshen some locations. Also, the first City Targets opened in three cities, and many retail analysts praised the move as a new approach that could impact Target's future operations.
 
Best Buy ranked at number 13 on the list, and showed a steep decline in "brand value" as defined by Interbrand. In the past five years of the Interbrand list, Best Buy has usually made the top 10, and this is the first time it's dropped below that higher ranking.
 
Other companies in the top 10 include The Home Depot, Amazon.com, CVS, Coach, Walgreens, Sam's Club, eBay, and Nordstrom.

Business magazine Forbes released its ranking of "America's 100 Most Trustworthy Companies" and three Minnesota companies made the list: Hawkins, Apogee Enterprises, and Patterson Companies.
 
The magazine rated U.S. companies using AGR scores, a statistical method that links accounting reports with financial statements and governance to detect any fraudulent activity. Companies on the list also show positive forecasts for equity returns, and don't have any SEC enforcement actions pending. The analyst firm that provided the rankings, GMI Ratings, noted that 60 different governance and forensic accounting measures were used.
 
The companies on the list have "consistently demonstrated transparent and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management," Forbes noted. "They do not play games with revenue and expense recognition, or with asset valuation."

Last week, the James Beard Foundation released the names of the nominees in its various chef and restaurant award categories, in Charleston, S.C., Vita.MN reports.
 
Jack Riebel, the chef and co-owner of Butcher and the Boar in downtown Minneapolis, is up for best chef at these “Oscars of the food world,” according to Vita.MN.

Riebel used to work at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in Minneapolis and La Belle Vie in Stillwater, the story states.
 
Michelle Gayer, the chef and owner of the Salty Tart, who’s been nominated for outstanding pastry chef before, is a candidate for regional best chef.
 


 

The Current blog has a recent post about Minnesotans in the running for a couple of Independent Music Awards, in which individual songs are judged by a group of well-known artists.

Sleep Study, a pop quartet, is up for an award in the Indie/Alt. Rock category for “Flower Song,” which the post describes as “a lo-fi, driving ’70s pop cut off their debut full-length, 2012′s Nothing Can Destroy.”

Secondly, Minnesota Remembers Vic Chesnutt, a compilation, is a nominee in the Tribute Album category. Luke Redfield, a Duluth songwriter, led the project, which nonprofit Rock the Cause released. It features covers of Chesnutt songs by local performers, including Dan Wilson, Haley Bonar, Dave Simonett, and Charlie Parr.

The results of the contest will be tallied up later this summer.

Business magazine Forbes recently released its annual list of the world's billionaires, and five Minnesotans landed on the roster again, with no real surprises since they've been on the list in the past and are all prominent in the state's business scene.
 
Tying at number 316 (out of nearly 1,500 billionaires) are Barbara Carlson Gage and her sister, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, each with a net worth of $4.1 billion. The two own Carlson jointly, and saw their fortunes rise significantly over last year, when they each had a net worth of $2.5 billion.
 
Coming in at 395th on the list is Whitney MacMillan, one of the owners of Cargill, considered the largest private company in the United States. He has a slight increase in net worth over last year, from $3.3 billion in 2012 to $3.4 billion today.
 
Stanley Hubbard, chairman and CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, is 704 on the list with $2.1 billion in net worth, while the fifth Minnesotan is Glen Taylor, majority owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and founder of Taylor Corporation. Number 719 on the list, Taylor has a net worth of $1.7 billion.
 
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze also appeared on the list as he did last year, but he isn't identified as a Minnesotan this year, since a city of residence isn't listed for him. Twin Cities Business spoke with Schulze's daughter, who told the magazine that her father's primary residence is in Florida.

Personal finance and small business site NerdWallet recently released a ranking of "Top Ten Cities for Women Entrepreneurs" and Minneapolis came in at 4th place, after San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
 
"Minneapolis has the dual benefits of having a very low unemployment rate and an educated workforce," the article noted. "Additionally, women own almost a third of businesses in Minneapolis."
 
NerdWallet continued with a mention of the quarterly networking events held at Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota, an organization that promotes connections among female executives in the state.
 
Also garnering a nod was the National Association of Women Business Owners of Minnesota, a very active organization that provides networking and other events. Nearby St. Paul got a shout-out as well, for WomenVenture, which offers loans and transitional career services to female entrepreneurs.
 
Other cities that landed on the list include Portland, Atlanta, Denver, and San Diego.
 

DC.Streetsblog.org gives a shout-out to the Twin Cities’ Nice Ride bike-sharing program in a post, “Midwest Cities Race to Adopt, and Grow, Bike-Share.”

Recently, Pittsburgh announced it was adding a similar program, while several other cities plan to follow suit.

The post goes on to say, “And of course there’s the grandaddy of them all: Minneapolis’ Nice Ride. Launched in 2010, this system currently boasts more than 1,200 bikes. Late last year, the system surpassed half a million trips.”

The post also includes a photo of a local bicyclist taking advantage of the pioneering bike-sharing program.

The Walker Art Center’s Internet Cat Video Festival was “an unparalleled and unexpected success,” according to a museum magazine piece.

The film festival turned out to be a viral success, “sparking news headlines worldwide, the festival itself saw the convergence of 10,000 people—some in costumes, others cradling kitty companions, all feline fanatics—on the Walker’s hillside one warm August evening last year,” it reads.

The festival has since led to a national tour, lots of media attention and an expanded event for next year. And a "legitimate" film festival in Austria has made a bid to host it.

Scott Stulen of the Walker is quoted, saying, “It was something unique. Also, we were very aware that we were tapping into a powerful meme, and we knew there was some interest with it.”

Bicycling in Minneapolis increased by 56 percent over the past six years, and walking by 22 percent, according to the City of Minneapolis Bicyclist and Pedestrian Count Report 2012, released on March 1st.
 
The figures are based on annual counts conducted every September, at 30 different locations for bicyclists and 23 locations for pedestrians. According to the report, the top locations for both activities are near the University of Minnesota, in downtown Minneapolis, and along the Midtown Greenway and Cedar Lake Trail.
 
Other findings from the report include an increase in the number of routes for bicycling, which has attracted new cyclists and given existing cyclists more options. Minneapolis has added over 40 miles of bikeways in just the past two years.
 
The ongoing collection of data about bicycling and walking is done by the city to develop a more complete picture of overall traffic behavior in our communities, the report noted.