Serving Up Images Of The Johnny Northside Movie Party, Part One...

Just to be clear, this isn't the PREMIER PARTY or something. We were just showing some video snippets and raising funds for final production of the movie. You still have an opportunity to attend more of these Johnny Northside movie parties, and you won't even have to miss Pride Week or whatever.

So here's some photos of the soiree. If you were there and want to add your all-too-interesting anecdotes, well, in that case...

...there are comment threads and you know what to do.

From top to bottom, our host Brian Reichow poses with some brie cheese...and I'm not talking brie from the So Low! store, though I love the So Low! store and their prices are, well, SO LOW...but this was top-o-the-line double cream brie. Why is Brian holding a flame next to the brie?

He's illustrating a little joke we tell in the neighborhood, and here it is: what is a crime in Homewood?

Answer: Somebody burns the toasted brie.

In the next photo, Charles Shaw wine, which can often be purchased for $2.99 a bottle at Trader Joe's. (In California, where Trader Joe's got its start, it can often be purchased for $1.99 a bottle, which is why it's known as "two buck chuck.") As Connie Nompelis put it so well, "We're serving Charles Shaw because we want to MAKE money at the fund raiser."

In the next photo, little party favors: small slices of gray board with tiny condemnation notices, made to look like the doors on a vacant and boarded house. Word is if you put one of these talismans in your window or above your doorway, it will ward off condemnation.

There's a story behind the party favors and it's a big part of the making of the movie. The guys at 612 Authentic had a break-in at their offices, which resulted in the theft of their video equipment and computers, including much of the footage shot for the Johnny Northside movie project. A gray board appeared to secure the building right after the break-in. Obviously, 612 Authentic was devastated by the loss of their equipment and footage.

However, a short while later, the Minneapolis Police Department actually recovered the stolen property. The footage was returned and, in fact, there was something extra: an amateur attempt to shoot a "gangster rap" video. I keep hoping some of that stuff will appear in the final movie.

Anyway, the party favors were created from that gray board which appeared on the office after the break in. There is a lot of magic, luck and emotional energy in those little squares of wood.

Moving on to the next picture: Jules Inda, who is the spouse of North Minneapolis marketing guru Pat Carney, stands nearby as I serve up what you might call...a spontaneous comic reading. In the next photo, three bloggers pose together for a portrait: Dottie Titus of the Jordan Livability Blog, myself, and Ed Kohler of The Deets.

In the next image, Pat Carney shows how he feels about residents of HOMEWOOD, and Brian Reichow shows how he feels about residents of HARRISON. I guess the "L" stands for "LOVE" or...well, perhaps not.

In the next photo, I pose with Carleton Crawford, chair of the Fifth Congressional District Republicans. He was very nice and, um, he had enough money for the cover charge, so we let him inside.