Aaron Landry & Liz Glover, originally uploaded by fimoculous.

For the Republican National Convention, CNN transformed the Eagle Street Grille into the CNN Grill. It's directly across the street from the Xcel Energy Center and like a similar establishment in Denver for the RNC, it was completely redone with new exterior signs, red walls, branded umbrellas, televisions, a small studio space and even some of the booths were changed to fit CNN's brand. The pint glasses were changed out and there was even a news marquee and huge neon sign over one of the bars. Photos on the wall ranged from scenes of political signage to a bizarre set of large frames showcasing logos under the CNN brand, like "iReport" and "CNN Airport Network." There was nothing inside or outside that I could see that said "Eagle Street Grille." It was as if this theme restaurant had always been here.

Access required being credentialed for the security perimeter as well as wearing a pass from CNN. Inside were piles of swag and gift bags. It was heavily staffed, brightly lit and had reliable internet access. Like many of the RNC-related parties, everything on the menu was on the house. Quite the deal, especially as it wasn't the Eagle Street Grille's regular menu either: they flew in chef Michael Romano and others from New York to run the kitchen and all the food was replaced out. There were a few special bottles at the bar and the drinks were poured strong. Despite my disdain towards Makers Mark, I couldn't resist ordering from the bottle dipped not only in red wax, but with two more layers in white and blue too (hey, I had to remind myself "when in Rome..." quite a bit during the RNC). At a table I was at on Wednesday, we joked about how a gin and tonic fits into a full pint glass. There was a Texas joke somewhere there. I talked with Andrea Mayer at the Eagle Street Grille the Saturday after the convention and she told me about the long hours people were working confirmed to me what some of the wait staff told me during the week: they don't even know exactly what they're being paid. While this surprised me at first, she, "did it for the experience." The tips were being pooled that week which seemed rather antithetical considering the crowd but then I reminded myself that there were more media people here than there were Republicans. I said I didn't see people tipping when I was there and she interrupted "oh, they were tipping" and without saying directly, indicated she had no qualms about the compensation. During the week, I talked with another woman on the CNN Grill's waitstaff who was a recent college graduate and came back to work for the week because of the deal. Even still, she didn't know how much exactly she was being paid either. It was clear she thought it was going to be enough to be worth it. I asked Mayer if there were any issues or problems they had as a result of the CNN Grill taking over and she paused. She wasn't able to blame CNN for anything but said the main problem was her disappointment of hearing "the regulars wanting their bar back." For the week, it was the place to hang out with media. CNN's "CNN Grill" tag on Political Ticker mentions only a few who were there, New York Times' David Carr humorously includes the CNN Grill in one of his videos, and the people I was with would be frequently pointing out people they knew. It was a big reminder that while I may know some faces in the local media scene, I'm quite unfamiliar with most faces nationally. Some of the people I met would start by asking where I'm from. One responded, "oh, you're from here? Wow." The experience at the booth I sat at went like this: I was sitting next to FishbowlNY's Glynnis MacNicol who was celebrating a birthday after midnight (turning 27 if I remember correctly? ;-) ) so they brought out some cupcakes with packets of red and blue frosting to decorate with. One was lit with a candle with the words "Happy Birthday" written out in frosting. There was a bowl of sprinkles that 23/6's Eugene Mirman grabbed, threatened to use in some form on the booth next to us and then dumped them back in the bowl. No surprise he was earlier questioned by secret service after causing trouble inside the Xcel Energy Center. He talked CNN President Jon Klein into receiving a kiss on the cheek from him. Klein introduced himself to me and shook my hand without saying his name. A couple CNN anchors and correspondents from The Daily Show were hanging out while others donning a boatload of credentials and pins pushed through a thick crowd holding small "McCain/Palin" signs fresh out of Sarah Palin's speech. Wonkette videographer Liz Glover stopped by and showed me her Barbie-branded pink Polaroid camera where I snapped a shot with her and Rex Sorgatz. We played with Glover's "70's microphone" not long after the CNN Grill dog Sara (who roamed the CNN Grill freely) completely control an interview with her. Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar and Time Magazine / Swampland's Ana Marie Cox were behind laptops and I heard that many people spent some long hours there and a few treated it almost as a remote office. I asked Mayer what she thought of all the celebrities and she said that everyone, especially the CNN anchors, were very friendly. She didn't spend any time trying to get to get to know anyone saying "I wanted to treat them like any other customer." Perhaps then, I received the same service Tom Brokaw, Wolf Blitzer and Ben Stein got. After the Republican National Convention ended on Thursday night, The CNN Grill re-opened Saturday as the Eagle Street Grille and "everything is back to normal," including a fresh paint job. They got to keep some of the CNN glassware but everything else CNN took with them -- presumably for another establishment that CNN can take over for a week during a major national event. Eagle Street Grille 174 7th St W Saint Paul, MN 55102 651-225-1382 A couple more photos at Flickr.

Directional Argument, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

With all the various news that was happening yesterday regarding the RNC, the huge peace protest and buzz regarding hurricane Gustov and Governor Palin's daughter, I ended up tagging along with photographers Stacy Schwartz and Jon Behm, periodically catching up with Noah Kunin of The UpTake. We all were helping with The UpTake's coverage.

We followed a splinter group unrelated to the primary protest around the streets of Saint Paul. If you're new to this story, the Minnesota Independent, The UpTake and the mainstream media outlets have been covering it extensively. What I don't think has been covered though is that this group was incredibly unorganized and continually disagreed with themselves as to what they were doing. The route we took around Saint Paul around noon was completely on the fly. Police in full riot gear as well as cops in blue shirts on bikes lined certain intersections to try to persuade which direction the mob went. Groups like "Funk The War" pumped loud music from wagons which made a the scene almost feel like being in a film. Kids wearing handkerchiefs and gas masks running around juxtaposed with people dancing as if it was a rave was a moderately surreal scene. Eventually we ended up in Lowertown where there were virtually no visible police. I watched as some people in this mob smashed rear view mirrors of cars, threw bricks through Galtier Plaza and the First Bank building and one tried to rip a door off of a van. I also saw water bottles flung at windows where they bounced off. They surrounded a bus and spray-painted anarchy symbols on the side in light blue. People yelled at each other within the group, calling the violence "fucking stupid" and the reaction of bricks thrown through the glass at Macy's "does not help stop the war," yelled a girl with a torn t-shirt. At each intersection, the head of the group many times would point in conflicting directions. Some wanted to go back to the Xcel. Someone wanted to "stay away from the police." Some wanted to turn around and go back the other direction. While there were not police presence at many of the intersections, you could see police blocking off roads a block away. A smart maneuver by law enforcement, I thought: not directly engaging the group but influencing the route they were traveling by showing their presence in the distance. There were few times where tear gas and smoke bombs were use to control the direction of the mob. By the time they made it to Macy's and the Landmark Center, an entourage of police cars were following them as well as a huge presence of cops in riot gear in most directions so they scattered and dispersed seeing they were now trapped. I argue that if the police intervened when a few of the rebels threw bricks through windows, the matter could have escalated. Instead, they were able to trap the group, make some arrests and get them to scatter without much intervention at all. As I was uploading photos from what happened at The UpTake's offices (and after listening in to a great conversation between Matt Stoller and former congressman Bob Edgar), Utne Reader's Bennett Gordon alerted me that the group was rebuilding itself near the Cathedral. I walked up with him and Stacy Schwartz and saw lines of police in riot gear blocking off certain streets but maintaining a distance of about a block from the growing mob. They chanted "join us, join us" until they had a large group. Bennett stayed behind and Stacy and I followed the group to the Cathedral, down towards 35E where they crossed a pedestrian bridge, crossed 7th Street and travelled down towards Irving Park with little or no property damage. Two kids took a dumpster and after a few attempts were able to tip it over in the middle of an intersection. Getting near the perimeter, police stayed a block away in riot gear, forcing the mob to move to the river. A couple folks in masks made a makeshift blockade with a couple detour signs to "stop the cops." At the Mississippi, they marched down Shepherd road's sidewalk, not interfering with traffic. Stacy and I were talking about how difficult it is going to be for this mob to actually get back into downtown and then figured that the only way to get back was to turn around or to go through the tunnel at Jackson street. To the north was a parked train and a bluff and to the south was a river. I said, "this looks like a trap." Sure enough, by the time they got to Jackson street, the police in full riot gear were blocking the entrance back into downtown. Stacy and I knew the ramifications of this and stayed back behind the main mob to observe. We saw a reporter for MPR and two people from The UpTake continue on. There was no way out but back the way we came. Then, this happened, as filmed by The UpTake's Corrine McDermid: What the video doesn't show clearly is that the mob threw first. The police responded swiftly with tear gas and smoke bombs. There were other objects thrown at police, one I believe exploded in front of them. Stacy and I turned around and started heading the other direction, as did many in the mob and cars were beginning to back up, also trapped. While some wanted to peacefully get away, some people in masks were harassing motorists. The helpful were yelling at people to turn around and roll their windows up due to the tear gas. As Shepherd road is divided, there is a curb-sized median to climb over to go the opposite direction. Most cars did this, although one driver of a large SUV yelled to us "I don't care, I'll drive those fuckers right over." Personally, I don't think that's a good choice considering all the people that were about to surround his vehicle. Stacy and I, at this point, were now victims of this trap along with the motorists on Shepherd road. We were telling people to turn around and roll windows up, and one woman in an SUV didn't seem to understand. I tried to explain and then asked if we could ride with her out of the area. I showed her my press pass and explained who we were and what was going on as fast as I could and she reluctantly let us in. I immediately told her to turn around and go the other way, driving over the median. As she was driving an SUV, I knew it wouldn't be a problem but she was scared of damaging her vehicle. It got to the point where I was yelling at her to do so, noting the people in masks that were coming at us and the loud explosives that were going off. She made the turn but it was too late for a clean getaway. The most unnerving moment was on our way out. A man in a gas mask stood in front of the SUV staring at our driver to her the face, refusing to move. The ugly face of terrorism was standing in front of her vehicle. She froze, with her hands on the wheel and did not honk or try to move. It was a frightening scene. I yelled, "go around him" and Stacy opened her door and yelled, "Get the fuck out of the way, we're press" and another man yelled, "if you're press, fucking cover this!" Meanwhile, the mob was coming up behind us. Stacy's a concert photographer, lawyer and music blogger. I'm an IT Manager for a design firm, social media consultant and blogger. We were doing citizen photojournalistic roles and the situation changed where we decided that our safety was more important than covering the event. Finally the guy moved and ran and we drove away. Our driver, who asked her name and occupation to be off the record told us that she was a mother, works downtown and was simply trying to go home in the eastern suburbs. She said she was appalled, disgusted incredibly shaken and said she felt like she was about to throw up. I feel bad that I yelled at her how to maneuver her vehicle but I think if we would have done it any later we would have had to deal with the main mob that were attacking the police. She drove us to Stacy's car in Highland Park. Stacy and I gave her our cards and if you're reading this, we are very thankful you got us out of there. After following around these groups, I think they are fairly unorganized, do not have agreement on their goals and are being controlled and trapped fairly well by the police. It's unfortunate that the traps both in downtown as well as by the river negatively impacted some normal citizens and storefronts but I think the situation could have been a lot worse. Of course, seeing our city armed to the teeth with riot gear, police from all over the state and the Minnesota National Guard is almost as unnerving as the rioters. It's a lose-lose situation. Visit my photo slideshow on Flickr as well as sets by Jon Behm and Stacy Schwartz. Also visit The UpTake for continuing coverage. UPDATES: I've been asked about my use of the word "kids." While the group seemed to be younger teenagers to people in their early 20's, I admit I may have used the word loosely. Note though that my perception wasn't unique: Corrine McDermid from The UpTake used the same language in the above video and also referred to them as "students." Michael Caputo from Minnesota Public Radio and I had two long conversations about what happened. He was closer to the action than I was but we differ on a key part of the story. On the other hand, my version of the story seems to fit with what the police report said. Corrine McDermid, seems to agree with Caputo. He made a five minute piece about the event for MPR. Overall, good conversations regarding the recollection of stories and what really is the truth.

Xcel Energy Center, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

I haven't been updating this site for awhile so here's a short recap of what I've been up to and what I'm doing this upcoming week.

I've been updating my tumblelog. Add it on Tumblr or your RSS reader if you'd like. I've also been covering the U.S. Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman at MNpublius. It's a ton of fun, honestly. As well, I've been maintaining my day job. This weekend, I pick up my press pass with The UpTake. I've been a supporter of the UpTake since day one and I'm happy to help them out during the Republican National Convention. I also pick up Rex Sorgatz at the airport and the upper floor of my house turns into his space for a project he's working on relating to the RNC. While there's going to be a ton of press locally, nationally and internationally on almost every aspect of the convention from the speeches, the reactions from delegates, the protests, the looming hurricane in the gulf, the newly chosen vice president candidate and everything John McCain, I'm going to focus on three things: Norm Coleman, Jeff Larson and the parties. I'm also going to be at The Daily Show on September 2nd. This upcoming week might be a huge mess but I think it'll be fun. Thanks for reading and my apologies for the lack of updates recently.