First Crack 103. Lunch with Minneapoliscast, How Was The Show, LocalTone and MinnieIndie.com

I bought Tony Thomas from Minneapoliscast, Andrea Meyers from HowWasTheShow.com, and Justin Grammens from LocalTone.com, and Brian McDonough from MinnieIndie.com lunch to talk about the Minneapolis music scene. We cover the goal of each of their sites, the challenges of finding good independent music, and Brian makes some band recommendations. Listen to Lunch with Minneapoliscast, …

First Crack 102. Measuring Carbon Footprints with Tyler Patterson

Tyler Patterson just finished up a Masters Thesis project investigating adding all the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ campus energy sources into the Chicago Climate Exchange. In this numbers and stats intensive conversation, we discuss: The methodology of the measuring the campus’ carbon footprint The economics of the carbon trading and energy efficiency The trade-offs …

First Crack 99. Jeremy Raths and the Search for Extraordinary Coffee

We catch up with Twin Cities coffee legend Jeremy Raths and talk about: Moving The Roastery from a coffee shop in the middle of St. Paul to delivering coffee from an abandon convent. The history of the speciality coffee market – nationally and locally. How the coffee market is changing to benefit the small, local, …

First Crack 100. How to Cup Coffee with Jeremy Raths

Jeremy Raths, from The Roastery, teaches us how to cup – the traditional process for tasting and choosing coffee. He walks through: The cupping process How he teaches others how to cup The need to be emotionally self-aware when cupping How to get the cupping experience at home The responsibility and integrity of a good …

There’s Lots of ‘Un-Interviews’ here ;)

“I listened to a fascinating interview on the radio the other day. What made it fascinating was that the interviewer’s voice, and questions, had been entirely edited out. What you heard was a very eloquent explanation of a difficult topic, in which the questions were tacit, unheard. Compared to most radio articles, op-eds and even …

First Crack 96. Jeff Williamson on St. Paul’s Flat Earth Brewing

As Jeff Williamson, co-owner of St. Paul’s Flat Earth Brewing Co. awaits kegs to distribute the first batch of Flat Earth Pale Ale, he and I talk about; Getting a microbrewery off the ground How a new child changed his the direction of Flat Earth Flat Earth’s place in Minnesota’s beer scene. Listen to Jeff …

First Crack 84. Rich Huelskamp on Making an Energy Efficient Home

Rich Huelskamp built a 100% off-grid, renewable-energy home down in Red Wing, MN. He and I talk about how he got his home down from the average 25kWh/day to 6. Along the way, he goes through the steps to making a urban/suburban home more efficient. If you’re looking to replace your home’s appliances, Rich recommends …

First Crack 83. Chris Dykstra, Zanby, and Social Networking

As part of my ongoing effort to highlight Minnesota-based internet startups, Chris Dykstra and I talk about the strengths and weakness of various social networks (evite, yahoo groups, meetup, linkedin), and how his Zanby is aiming to solve them. Namely – how a single person easily manage dozen of disparate and related groups. Listen to …