Ep. 10: The Valentine's Day Industrial Complex

Cold enough for ya? Yeah, not funny. The sobering below-zero Polar Vortex that sat its big rear end right over Minnesota this week did not come to play. So we did the one thing we in The Warming House are really, really good at: we hunkered. We hunkered down thinking about Valentine's Day! And what better way to get us in the mood for love than Al Green!

Our vinyl pick of the week was Al Green's best-of album and it truly is a masterful string of hit after hit: "Let's Stay Together," "Here I Am (Come and Get Me)" and "Love and Happiness." Co-host Sean McPherson said, "his voice is somehow masterful and also human, vulnerable. He is a master of putting this tender spirit in the lead, with crystal clear back up vocals being more strident and definitive. He sounds triumphant yet so vulnerable. It frankly would be jarring if it didn’t feel exactly like we all feel as humans."

The Love Train rolled on, too, with Sean's revealing conversation with our "advice-ologist" Sanni Brown. Rating the sexiness of things like satin sheets and the pre-school pick-up line at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday. Yeah, you can imagine what she said on that one!

Plus, a self-described "Consent Faerie" and a sex educator from Smitten Kitten in Minneapolis teamed up for a Twins Trivia Lovefest. Plus, plus, KARE 11 host Jana Shortal and her fiancé played a retro Newlywed Game-style game called "Almost-weds." A nod to all those couples who were forced to delay their nuptials in #2020. (Thanks, COVID.)

Co-host Nina Moini talked with Tina Burnside, co-founder and curator at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery, and Nikki McComb, founder of "Art Is My Weapon," about the Black History Month exhibits currently on display and their commitment to Black history every day!

And putting a big swirly dollop of cream cheese frosting on top of our Valentine's Day celebration was Nina's convo with Nneka Sederstrom, owner of Daughters and Sons Bakery in Prior Lake. Is the Cupcake Renaissance over? *gasp* Nneka had a thoughtful read on the evolution of that cultural phenom. Which just about sums up The Warming House, no? Astute observation, refined sugar, butter, side-eye cultural references, laughs and love. 

Complete Guest List:

Lark, The Consent Faerie and Nickey Robo, sex educator at the Smitten Kitten

Tina Burnside, co-founder and curator at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery

Nikki McComb, founder of "Art Is My Weapon"

Jana Shortal, host of KARE 11's "Breaking the News" and her fiance, Dr. Laura Zebuhr

Nneka Sederstrom, owner of Daughters and Sons Bakery

Sanni Brown, The Current and Purple Current and TWH "Advice-ologist"

• Ep. 16: Gone fishing!
• The Warming House co-hosts reflect on winter of isolation and spring of new possibility
• Ep. 15: Friends, not food!
• Share with The Warming House