RacketCast

Racket
  • 5.0 (22)
  • ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Bi-weekly podcast from Racket, the Twin Cities news/arts/culture publication. Featuring hyper-local recaps, reviews, interviews, debates, hot takes, and more from the crew behind your favorite reader-funded, worker-owned media org. Want to advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. MAY 1

    Weather, Climate, and Getting Ripped Feat. Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard

    We've had investigative reporters, sportswriters, food critics, and music writers on RacketCast, but never anyone working the beat every Minnesotan actually cares about: the weather. Remedying that is this week's guest Sven Sundgaard, a 23-year veteran of Minnesota's meteorology scene. We get into a little Sven lore, remember some storms, dive deep into climate change, address the state of local meteorology, gab about his real estate side hustle, and even fact check MSP Mag's 2022 claim that Sundgaard is our state's "most physically ripped" weatherman. And, as a cherry on top for those who make it 60+ minutes in: a pleasant reading of the weekend forecast—no quicker way to get that information! Before any of that, however, your hosts go 'round the horn in a thrilling installment of our regular intro feature, What I Learned In Racket... I Tried the Minneapolis-Made Camera So You Don’t Have ToHow Did Black Music Take Over the World? Ask Melvin Gibbs.‘Minnesota Hardcore’ Producer David Roth Is the Ken Burns of Twin Cities PunkCover Me Impressed: Are We Living Through a Twin Cities Cover-Band Boom? This episode of RacketCast is sponsored by The Wild West Bank Sound: A Funky Flashback of Musical Memories. The latest documentary from Twin Cities PBS takes viewers on a sensory trip to a corner of Minneapolis that shaped Minnesota music. From the early 1960s, Minneapolis’ West Bank neighborhood was an epicenter of the music world and proved an irresistible draw for artists from far and wide, an ever-evolving cauldron of creativity and cultures. This film bursts at the seams with memories, all visualized with rare and rich archival photography, footage, and ephemera. Stream on the free PBS App starting April 21. Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m

  2. APR 17

    2026 Timberwolves Playoffs Explainer for Dummies Feat. Podcaster Dane Moore

    Is it unwise to keep calling our listeners "dummies"? Perhaps, but that's what we did with our Twins preview pod, and we're doing it again for this Timberwolves explainer featuring the great podcaster Dane Moore. Just as he did last year, Dane joined us ahead of the T-Wolves postseason, right as casual fans begin hopping aboard the hoops bandwagon. The host of The Dane Moore NBA Podcast equips listeners with the requisite knowledge to (hopefully) root deep into the playoffs, including a roster breakdown, season recap, long-view look at the franchise, and even a therapy session centered around our host's paranoid speculation that superstar Anthony Edwards might want outta town. Enjoy, dummies! The Wolves tip off against the Denver Nuggets for Game 1 of the first round of the NBA playoffs at 2:30 p.m. Saturday; you can watch via Amazon Prime. Before any of that, though, we chatted for 30 minutes during a regular installment of What I Learned In Racket... As Food Giant Sysco Tightens Its Hold, We Asked Local Chefs and Restaurateurs How Much to WorryAn Educated Guesser’s Guide to the 2026 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film FestivalGrading the 2026 Minnesota Twins Walk-Up Songs This episode of RacketCast is sponsored by TPT's The Wild West Bank Sound: A Funky Flashback of Musical Memories. Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr

  3. APR 3

    2026 MN Twins Preview for Dummies Feat. The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman

    🎶 Take me out to the ball game 🎶 🎶 Take me out with the crowd 🎶 🎶 Buy me some peanuts and RacketCast (?!) 🎶 Calm down! RacketCast will remain free of charge for this (slightly delayed) season preview of your reportedly hopeless 2026 Minnesota Twins. As always, for no reason in particular, we'll be framing it through the "for dummies" lens, though our guest is no dummy: He's Aaron Gleeman, the best damn baseball writer/reporter in town. You can—and should!—subscribe to and support his Gleeman & the Geek Twins podcast, featuring co-host John Bonnes, here; you can read all of his writing via the Athletic here. And for the What I Learned in Racket enthusiasts out there, tough luck! We're short-staffed this week, so our usual hoopla-loaded gabbing up top won't hit—very '26 Twins-like, when you think about it—your ears this week. No crying in baseball and podcasting. Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    57 min

  4. MAR 20

    Celebrate Fancy Ray Day Feat. Local Comedy Legend Fancy Ray

    Happy Fancy Ray Day! Well, actually, that honorary calendar date—as previously decreed by the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul—isn't until March 28. But we wanted to get "The Best Looking Man in Comedy" on our podcast well in advance of the "Fancy Ray Day Comedy Show" he'll be headlining next Saturday at Spring Street Tavern in northeast Minneapolis. (Click here for tickets.) "Fancy" Ray McCloney is, of course, a Minnesota comedy institution, having worked the clubs since the '80s. He ran for governor in 1998. He has pitched your favorite places and products for decades, including a Taco Bell spot during the 2016 Super Bowl. He has officiated hundreds of weddings, "mostly for tattooed white people," he says with a grin. His TV appearances span from local cable access to Maury Povich to America's Got Talent. Fancy Ray was an elusive guest to book (naturally, he wanted a coinciding gig to pitch), but we got him in the studio for a wide-ranging talk that touches on philosophy, riffing with Tim and Eric, poetry, his longtime friendship with Little Richard, and so much more. Before any of that we get into 20ish minutes of What I Learned in Racket, in which we discuss... WE WENT FOR THE WINGS: A Visit to the Mall of America Hooters During Its Final Days‘Wuthering Heights’ Is a Horny Bore; ‘The Bride!’ Is a Dizzying Clutter‘It’s David vs. Goliath’: Inside the Fight to Kill Google’s Secrecy-Shrouded Hermantown Data Center Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 6m

  5. MAR 6

    Mapping MN's Hidden City Feat. YouTuber Chris Parr

    What the hell is going on in North Oaks, Minnesota? That's the question Minneapolis-based videographer/YouTuber Chris Parr set out to answer. In a video from last month titled "I Mapped Google’s ONLY SECRET CITY," Parr explains why North Oaks—an extremely wealthy north metro city of 5,200—doesn't appear on Google Street View, gets into the history of mapping in general, chats with multiple historians and a drone expert, and then gets hovering above the hidden city in question. Enjoy our chat with Parr, and here's a link to his viral video. But before all that, Em, Keith, and Jay went 'round the horn for our regular segment, What I Learned in Racket. Here's what we learned... Radish Farm Stop: A New SW Minneapolis Grocer That’s Like a Year-Round Farmers MarketYes, That Mancini’s: How a Legendary St. Paul Steakhouse Raised $35K for the ResistanceSack’s Back: MN’s Greatest Political Cartoonist Un-Retired Because He’s ‘So F*****g Pissed’ at Trump, ICE Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    47 min

  6. FEB 20

    Livestreaming a Crisis Feat. Unicorn Riot

    Ever read this week's Racket feature story and think to yourself: "Boy, I'd sure love to hear an entire hour-long conversation about how Niko Georgiades helped launch Unicorn Riot, provided incredible on-the-ground coverage of the George Floyd uprising, and kept producing livestream video coverage into the present, including during Operation Metro Surge?" Boy, have we got a treat for you! But, before all that, we've got our regular What I Learned in Racket segment, which this week includes an original poetry reading by Keith Harris—*snap, snap, snap.* Catch up below: ICE Cost Lake Street Businesses at Least $46M. These Weekly Cash Mobs Help Them Claw Back Profit.Corporate Communications in ‘Uncertain, Stressful, and Volatile Times’: How MN Employers Failed to Address the ICE OccupationStreaming the Siege: At Every Turn, ICE’s MN Invasion Has Been Captured on Video Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 27m

  7. FEB 6

    Covering the MN ICE Invasion Feat. Reporters Madison McVan & Max Nesterak

    Small but mighty, the Minnesota Reformer continues to deliver some of the best Operation Metro Surge coverage in the state. We're fans, we suspect you're fans, so we figured: Let's get reporters Madison McVan and Max Nesterak on the pod to discuss their ongoing coverage of the federal invasion. Here's a link to Max's big feature story; here's a link to Madison's piece about ICE resistance going mainstream. But before any of that, our own small/mighty crew engaged in a spirited round of What I Learned in Racket. Here's what we learned... They Asked for Donations to Buy $10 Burritos. They Raised More Than $10K.Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello Rouse Anti-Fascist Fervor at First AveGas Masks, Signal Chats, and a Honda Fit: Chasing ICE With Will Stancil Subscribe to RacketCast wherever you get your podcasts—Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, etc. • Wanna advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. • Have a food/drink, event, or show recommendation? How about a civic hot take? General or specific question? Call 619-RACKTIP (619-722-5847) with your first name + city + 3-min.-maximum voicemail, and we might play it on a future episode. • Special thanks to local band Van Stee for supplying our podcast music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 1m

  8. JAN 27

    Bonus: Life In Occupied MN Feat. Pod Damn America

    You've heard Racket's Jay Boller co-hosting RacketCast, certainly. But have you ever heard him guesting on another podcast entirely? That's the not-so-rare opportunity presented to you here, where you'll find a recent episode of Pod Damn America that features Jay, Unite Here Local 17's Sheigh Freeberg, and host/occasional Racket contributor Anders J. Lee outlining the federal government's current occupation of Minnesota for PDA's national audience. We talk resistance. We talk media coverage. We talk labor solidarity. Jay incorrectly states that Michele Tafoya is competing against Mike Lindell for the U.S. Senate, when in fact Lindell is running for governor.  Be sure to follow Pod Damn America—the preeminent "gothic socialist podcast" featuring comedic news commentary from Lee and co-host Jake Flores—right here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    56 min
See All (51)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Bi-weekly podcast from Racket, the Twin Cities news/arts/culture publication. Featuring hyper-local recaps, reviews, interviews, debates, hot takes, and more from the crew behind your favorite reader-funded, worker-owned media org. Want to advertise on RacketCast? Email us at advertise@racketmn.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Racket
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Racket
  • Show Website
    RacketCast

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