Behind the Beer Glass

John Tevlin of the Star Tribune visited Keegan's a few Thursdays ago to see what all the hoopla was about. Here is the resulting article (to be published on Saturday), and I'm pleased to report that I will not need to suffer the Saw II like experience of trying to get a complaint resolved by "Reader's Representative" Kate Parry. Because it's all mostly accurate. Excerpts:

Conservative bloggers including those behind Fraterslibertas.com and Freedomdogs.com started dropping references to their occasional nights out. Fraterslibertas then got Keegan's to sponsor their radio show on WWTC (1280 AM). Word spread, and readers began to drop in.

I don't remember any of our friends at Freedom Dogs being at the early incarnations of Trivia night at Keegan's. But never underestimate the power of Chief's charm (and skills as a licensed hypnotist) to distort the space time continuum.

Two years ago they sponsored a blogger social, formed the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers (MOB) and it spread from there, according to Brian Ward, one of the founders of Fraterslibertas.

The only guiding principle of the evening is "no organization, no rules, no agenda," said Ward. "It's people socializing over beer and competition [trivia]."

An accurate quote. I considered saying it's people socializing over beer and losing to the Fraters Libertas team in trivia. But when you're playing the big green room on Portland Ave, its important to come off as sensitive and caring.

On a recent Thursday, Keegan's was packed and tilting decidedly right. Barry Hickethier wore a T-shirt picturing Che Guevara that read: "Communism killed 100 million people and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

Those who know Barry know understand that is one of his more understated apparel items. I'm just glad he didn't drop his pants to expose his "Whip Dukakis Now" boxer shorts.

David Strom from the Minnesota Taxpayers League schmoozed in one corner with conservative writers from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

You'd think that they're all now one big McClatchy Family (clap clap) the Star Tribune wouldn't be afraid to name names of the erstwhile competition across the river. Or maybe it's just a professional courtesy to fellow reporters, not wanting to expose them for consorting with unsavory characters. In any regard, the advantage of being a blogger is that we don't have such professional codes for conduct. So who were those masked men? Let's just say PiPress reporter Chuck Laszewski is embarrassed to be a colleague of one of them and the other is the among the best $75 hobby columnists in the business.

And finally, our friend Larry Coulson gave us a glimpse of his personal life on every other evening except for Thursday:

Larry Colson, a regular, acknowledged that "it's easy to be angry sitting in your basement."

Trivia, beer, media celebrities, the occasional angry white man let loose from the basement - it's all at Keegan's on Thursday nights.