Booklets Now Available Exclusively at Boneshaker Books

[A tandem boneshaker. Note the cobblestone street.]

I'm happy to report that you can now purchase guide booklets, written by me, at an actual bricks-and-mortar bookstore. Boneshaker Books in Minneapolis' Seward neighborhood reminds me most of the awesome bookstore I happened across in Milwaukee's River West neighborhood, also an explicitly political place that relies on volunteers and community engagement as a foundation for their "business." For years, Boneshaker been the go-to place for radical books, unconventional politics, and self-published bits and pieces of printed matter. I couldn't be happier to have my weird little booklets on their shelves.

It also doesn't hurt that Boneshaker are named after early bicycles. The term "boneshaker" was slang for the "ordinary" or "pennyfarthing" bicycle, those early crazy-looking fixed-pedal bikes with the giant front wheel. The term comes from the undoubtedly jarring feeling that accompanied riding a bicycle on early cobblestone or brick streets. (If you want to relieve this experience, ride your bike along the one block of blocky old cobbles on the Northeast side of the Stone Arch Bridge. It feels like being on one of those 80s-era coin-operated motel massage beds )

I'm quite proud of these booklets, which are also available online. They're all based on tours I've done over the years. Each is full of occasionally accurate speculation and sporadically factual anecdata. Right now there are only two of them available -- Noteworthy Dive Bars of South Minneapolis and Noteworthy Dive Bars of the Midway -- but I will rectify this shortcoming as soon as possible. In the meantime, feel free to stop by Boneshaker Books browse my booklets or any of the other amazing literature they have for your perusal. They are open daily from 11am to 8pm, just off Franklin Avenue next to the little coffee shop, a block down from idyllic Milwaukee Avenue.

Please note: there is no dedicated parking available. Walk, ride your bike, or park on the street like a real urban adult.

[You don't have to be mad about dive bars.]