This is Ben Nichols during the Lucero show at Subterranean tonight.We got to this show RIGHT before it started. We walked into the club, and the band was already on stage. So I managed to squeeze my way up to the front about 2 or 3 rows back, but still not close enough to get the kind of shots that I got here. Also, if you want to see more shots from today's adventures, you can see them here.

This is the lobby at the W hotel where we are staying. Nice, eh? I love those ceilings... We got in around 7 tonight and headed straight out for dinner, so I didn't have much light to shoot in. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have loads of city shots to show you.

Tonight we met up with Spike and Robbin again, but this time we took them to Nye's. Enough of the fancy schmancy sushi, we wanted them to see the real people of Minneapolis. And boy did they.

We sat at the piano bar, and man did that place fill up. People were singin' and dancin'. It was awesome. Seriously. This lady was a particularly fabulous singer. I shot this photo during her version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow (shout out to the Kansans). I had no idea that this piano-bar scene was so vibrant - what a treat.

My only regret was that we had so much fun chatting and catching up with our guests (and maybe tossing back a few) that I didn't spend much time actually taking pictures. You could shoot this place for a few weeks and probably come out with an entire coffeetable book full of material. Good thing I live here and can return any time :)

Tonight we had dinner and drinks with Spike and Robbin from Brains on Fire. Jamie has been working with these guys on this awesome new Top Secret plan with Best Buy. I was super eager to meet them as they know a lot about social media, and seem to be funny Southerners (not like funny weird. more like funny ha-ha). I have a soft spot for the South, and Texans, especially. We had a wonderful, if not long, dinner and drinks and many laughs. Good times.

So I have a bit of a fascination with the Loch Ness. OK, OK, with monsters in general. So I thought it was amazingly cool when the Minneapolis Park board set up this fake sea creature in Lake Harriett for the summer. I've been meaning to shoot it for awhile, but I keep showing up at the lake at high noon -- not the best light conditions. I took several versions of this, but I liked the leaves in the foreground as it appeared that I was lurking in the bushes waiting to spot the rare monster :).

Today after work I decided to work with Memphis a little on her "stay" command. She is notorious for running after squirrels, people, rabbits, chipmunks, dogs, babies or frankly anything that moves. But as she gets a little older (she's 6 now) she's slightly improving. So I took her out onto the front porch and told her to stay as I walked down below on the path in the yard. She stood. She sat. Then she laid down. And this was the ultimate test: two squirrels were playing in the tree above the porch (she is watching them in this photo). But she didn't budge. Goooooood girl.

Jamie and I headed out to Canterbury Park today for their "Extreme Race Day," where they race horses (as usual) as well as ostriches and camels. It was way too hot and crowded to stick around for the camels, but I did get some funny ostrich shots. This one was taken in the winner's circle after the race. This jockey was the only one who managed to stay on the bird for the entire race. It was pretty funny stuff.

Jamie and I went out to dinner tonight in Nordeast and then over to Nye's Polynaise Room for some drinks and live polka music. But parked out front was this old Caddy. It was LOVELY. My mother would have died at the beauty of this car.