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Review: Why was R&B icon Usher such a big tease in Minneapolis?

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Review: Why was R&B icon Usher such a big tease in Minneapolis?


As the sound of electronic hand claps echoed throughout Target Center on Saturday night, R&B megastar Usher emerged at the top of a giant LED cube onstage. Oops. That wasn’t Usher. Then he showed up on a side-stage video screen, but not in person. C’mon. Finally, Usher arrived for real from beneath the stage, a wide-brimmed fedora obscuring his face, to deliver “Coming Home.”

What a tease, that Usher.

He teased throughout his relentless two-hour Past Present Future Tour concert that arrived in Minneapolis for a two-night stand. It was a frenetically paced, often exciting show that showcased Usher’s all-around talents as a supple singer, dynamic dancer, sparkling showman and, let’s be honest, irresistible tease.

Usher’s polished, highly entertaining spectacle bookended a week in Minneapolis that commenced with Stevie Wonder’s loose, musically magnificent and uplifting get-out-the-vote performance. The concerts provided a historical perspective on R&B: In the 1960s and ‘70s, Wonder serenaded about love and social issues while Usher’s updated brand from the ‘90s and this century is a lot sexier than “I Just Called To Say I Love You.”

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In fact, to the surprise of none of the 14,000 fans at jam-packed Target Center, Usher got a little freaky in a strip-club setting during “Can U Handle It.” The singer tantalized female fans sitting in a choice section inside the club, dangling maraschino cherries over their lips. OMG every woman snatched one with her mouth. What a tease. And a gentleman of sorts, I guess. In some cases, Usher gave the cherries to husbands/boyfriends to do the honor.

Like LeBron James, who is about to turn 40 next month, Usher, 46, is amazingly still at the top of his game after a long run. Strikingly buff (he pulled off his tank top in mid-show), Usher danced with more ambition, articulation and athleticism than any other living bigtime singer who essays movement onstage. Locking and popping, stutter stepping, and moon-walking on roller skates, he did it all.

Vocally, Usher traveled from an intimate croon (“Confessions”) to an emphatic belt (“Yeah!”) with a sassy entreaty in between (“Bad Girl”) and, of course, a sweet falsetto (“Superstar”). To be fair, he may have been singing to tracks when he was exerting some strenuous dance moves.

And, as a showman, Usher created various transfixing tableaux onstage, from a roller rink to a living room with romantic drama, complemented by a series of runway-worthy outfits including a red floor-length faux-fur coat and a rhinestone-encrusted blue leather jacket emblazoned with Future Present Past on the back.



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Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis musician Dessa, cocktail creator Marco Zappia turn music into cocktails

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Minneapolis musician Dessa, cocktail creator Marco Zappia turn music into cocktails


Minnesota Musician Dessa is coming out with a cocktail book, titled after her last album, “Bury the Lede” with a cocktail named after each track.

The recipes were created by Marco Zappia, one of the creative forces behind 3LECHE, a fermentation company.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Dessa and Zappia about the book.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Correction (Nov. 4, 2024) : Marco Zappia is the former beverage director of Martina and Colita. This story has been corrected to reflect his current career.



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Minneapolis, MN

'We Miss You, George Floyd' is a picture book by a Minneapolis writer that aims to start conversations with kids

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'We Miss You, George Floyd' is a picture book by a Minneapolis writer that aims to start conversations with kids


We Miss You, George Floyd (U of Minn Press)

But the book — one of just two of her many books that Gibney says poured out of her in roughly its final form — is not just for Black kids and parents.

“I think for the moral and psychological health of white children, they also need to talk about this stuff with caregivers and teachers and parents and caring people in their communities. That’s part of what I really hope this book can do: give all those folks I just mentioned some sort of place to start, to develop a shared language to talk about this stuff,” said Gibney (who sometimes reviews books for the Minnesota Star Tribune).

The writer and teacher has spoken with kids about their concerns in visits to Bancroft Elementary School, which Marwein attends and Boisey attended. Gibney met kids whose families had been directly affected by the unrest after Floyd’s murder, including having their businesses burned. Her experience was that while these kids knew about the murder and were curious about its aftermath, many of them remain traumatized by things that happened when they were too young to process them.

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“There’s a line in [the book] about how we can imagine a world without police violence because we can imagine a world without police. Some kids really seized on that: ‘We can’t have a world without police. We have to have police to stop crimes.’ And I would say, ‘Do police really stop crimes?’ ” Gibney recalled, adding that kids saw many possibilities. “One kid said, ‘We could take all that money and put it into housing and food.’ And these are third graders!”

Even before its release, writing the book was an act of healing for Gibney, who thinks of writing as a sacred way to work through her experiences and feelings. She began work on “We Miss You” four years ago.

“It feels like, for me, you work with something for a while on your own and then, if you’re lucky, with one or two other people — a good editor and, for children’s picture books, a good illustrator. Again, if you’re lucky, it goes out into the world and other people encounter it and interpret it and experience it through their own lenses,” said Gibney, who can’t wait to find out what readers make of her new book. “It’s this beautiful process. It comes back to you, but it comes back different. I love that process so much.”



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Minneapolis, MN

MN ranked in top 10 states for jobs: survey

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MN ranked in top 10 states for jobs: survey


A new ranking from WalletHub puts Minnesota in the top ten states for finding a job.

What we know

WalletHub’s survey for the Best and Worst States for Jobs ranks Minnesota highly in both job market and economic environment rank.

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Minnesota came in eighth for job market rank and third in the economic environment ranking. Minnesota also placed third for median annual income.

Earlier this year, Minnesota also ranked sixth in CNBC’s Top States for Business 2024.

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Context

As always, FOX 9 urges you to take any “survey” with some scruntiny.

Companies often use surveys for marketing purposes, to establish its brand, appear trustworthy, and position the company as an expert in the field. It’s a strategy known as “thought leadership” marketing.

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But often the research or methodology behind these surveys and studies can be specious, reductive, or flawed.

Top 10 best states to find a job 

1. New Hampshire 

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2. Vermont 

3. Minnesota 

4. Massachusetts 

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5. North Dakota 

6. Virginia 

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7. Maine 

8. Rhode Island 

9. South Dakota 

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10. Maryland 

The states ranked last for finding a job

41. New York 

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42. Idaho 

43. Wyoming 

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44. Oklahoma 

45. Montana 

46. Alaska 

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47. Kentucky 

48. Indiana 

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49. Louisiana 

50. West Virginia 



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