prince

State Rep. Paul Thissen may be seeking the DFL Party’s gubernatorial endorsement, but he sounded down on the whole party thing in a karaoke duet with his wife, Karen Wilson, over the insistent synth tones of Prince’s “1999.”

The bells atop the Minneapolis City Hall tower rang out Michael Jackson tunes on Friday in memory of the pop star who died on Thursday. Dan Wascoe performed five Jackson songs: “We Are the World,” “Ben,” “You Are Not Alone,” “I’ll Be There,” and “Gone Too Soon.” Audio and video after the jump.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan was warned by a young White House associate counsel named John Roberts against sending a letter of commendation to singer Michael Jackson, who died yesterday. One reason: Praising the King of Pop would set a precedent, requiring the president to also praise a “newcomer who goes by the name ‘Prince.’” [...]

Two junior high schools will continue to put a laptop computer into the hands of every student, despite the school district’s $5 million budget shortfall. An outcry coaxed officials to save the “1:1″ program at Oak-Land and Stillwater junior highs from possible extinction. District 834’s catering to youngsters’ digital desires doesn’t stop there. Officials plan [...]

Minneapolis’ own Prince is pulling lyrics from the headlines again, particularly in a new song he performed on Jay Leno’s TV show last week. “Ol’ Skool Company” references America’s financial bailouts, with a local angle: “Fat cats on Wall Street, they got a bailout, think it was the AIG — $700 billion — but my [...]

And on the fourth day they rested? Minnesota’s top two elected officials spent the last three days talking economic stimulus on the airwaves and cable lines of two supposed bastions of liberal media, MSNBC and National Public Radio. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Gov. Tim Pawlenty appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” on successive nights, [...]