Winter recap Instagram-style

A lot has happened over the last month. Holidays, out of town visitors, happy hours and such. Here’s a smattering of images from my Instagram feed (Find me. Username: kshoop) to give you a hint at what I’ve been up to…

Two of Chicago’s finest and best gal pals from college came to visit me for a weekend. We engaged in lots of shopping at MOA, fine dining at Haute Dish and dancing on at least three Minneapolis dance floors. It was a weekend for the books.

It’s become sort of a tradition for my high school friends to all meet up at a bar on Christmas evening. It’s really the perfect time for everyone to catch up since everyone is home at the same time. This year the tradition lived on. We celebrated baby Jesus at McCoy’s and cheers’ed my birthday at midnight (yep, I’m a Christmas baby). The best part of that night might’ve been the car ride in Blake’s convertible…with the the top down…because it was like 50 degrees out…on Christmas! A Minnesota miracle.

Got a chance to pop into the new(ish) Social House in Uptown. I have yet to eat anything there, but can definitely recommend the chocolate espresso martini. Don’t ask questions…just get it!

I know what you’re thinking: Gee, Katie. That’s a lot of man thigh you just posted. Is this really appropriate? And to that I say, yes! Because if you take a closer look you’ll notice the dude throwing the deuce is Nick Swardson of Reno 911 and comedy fame. And that guy with the glasses? Josh Hartnett. And the man thighs belong to Har Mar Superstar while performing at Nick and Eddie last month. So you’ve basically got a trifecta of Minnesota man talent captured in one iPhone photo. My timing was so on point.

More high school reunion shenanigans took place on New Year’s Eve. Here are some of my favorites before we headed to Honey to ring in 2012.

Got to take photos of the Red Bull Crashed Ice event in St. Paul. While I’m pretty sure I was seconds away from getting frost bite, I’m so glad I got to check this out. It was insane! Dudes (and two girls!) on hockey skates shooting down a downhill ice track that wrapped around the Cathedral. So fun to watch. And I got to meet up with my friend/prom date BJ after his first run down. I took a short video of the Thursday trials you can watch here.

Checked out Theophilus London at the LOFT. Fun times were had. Read up on my little Q&A with him here.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. 2012 is off to a good start with plenty ahead.

Peace!

Friday Tunage

I spent half of this week being sick and therefore have fallen behind on scoping out new music. So I’ve decided to resort to some old-school Janet this week because you can never go wrong with Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty. Plus, this song is especially weekend-worthy.

Minneapolis!

(The best part, of course.)

Happy Friday.

 

Q&A with Theophilus London

I got the opportunity to chat with hip hop/pop/electronic/other cool-sounding genre artist Theophilus London for an interview on kare11.com. You may have seen him pop up in the pages of Rolling Stone, Vogue or perform on David Letterman. The Brooklynite talked to me about his upcoming Minneapolis show (his first-ever visit to our charming city), connecting with fans on Twitter and making a cameo in a Beyonce music video (you know I had to ask him about that!).

If you want to see him live, you can see him at the LOFT on Saturday, January 14 (tomorrow!). Ticket info here. Here’s a snippet of my Q&A with him:

You’re calling this tour “Tour de Roses.” What’s the significance of that name?

Theophilus London: The rose symbolizes this year for me – 2012. I’ve been designing a lot using the rose. It’s a very inspiring flower to me. You know, “Lovers Holiday 2: Rose Island,” is what I’ve been working on recently. I’ve been working on this mind state, “Rose Island,” that’s going to be 25 songs. It will be like a free street album that’s coming out in a month or two.

This is your first performance in Minneapolis. What can people expect from your show?

TL: Yeah, it’s my first time ever in Minneapolis. This is something very energetic. This is something brand new — a new idea. This is a very, very exciting energy. A lot of new songs from “Lovers Holiday 2” and all the good ones from “Timez Are Weird.” You know, this will be a good introduction to the city of Minneapolis. And I’m just psyched to come out and play for you guys.

You’re really active on Twitter and Instagram and are great about interacting with fans. Do you use those outlets to get feedback from fans and influence what you’re working on?

TL: Yeah, that’s all that I have. Of course I use it to influence my stuff. I use it to get my music out there. Any person in this business model today should be using it as their outlet. [That] should be no surprise. You know, you have all these different social outlets [and] I focus on them every single day.

It’s clear you have a thing for clothes. How would you describe your style? And where do you get all your cool hats?

TL: My personal style is raw. It’s just how I’m feeling. It’s a very tasteful selection. [And] I make all of my hats.

So how did you end up in Beyonce’s “Party” music video?

TL: I’m friends with the family. I’m friends with Solange and Lil J. Solange invited a couple of her friends to hang out on the set. I knew the director that was shooting the video and they wanted us to be in the video so we came to show love and support to Beyonce and the whole family. It was a dope video.

“It’s time to live it up” is a repeated lyric in your song, “Wine and Chocolates.” What’s your idea of “living it up?”

TL: Just true happiness inside of yourself. Feeling good, feeling healthy and the ability to do anything your mind tells you. Be free.

Friday Tunage

It’s really not fair that this chic looks AND sounds the way she does. It should only be allowed that you can either have a strikingly gorgeous face OR have a hauntingly pretty voice. Not both. But since it’s Friday and I’m feeling generous I’ve decided to give Lana Del Rey some blog love. By the way, who’s the smarty that started that silly rumor about redheads not being pretty? Nonsense!