Nightlife: Minnesota Music Café

The Good, the Bad and the Funky - that's the band, not the patrons - rocks the Minnesota Music Cafe during its regular Sunday-night gig.

The rock 'n' roll memorabilia on the walls of the Minnesota Music Café took the night off on a recent Sunday. The glass-enclosed showcases holding Eddie Cochran's guitar, a Bob Dylan set list and yellowing Lamont Cranston news clippings were covered with wrapping paper and bows to look like giant wedding presents.

St. Paul's largest rock 'n' roll bar was the site of a wedding reception. But the old reliable Sunday-night attraction - The Good, the Bad and the Funky - was on the bandstand, tearing through soul classics with a five-piece horn section.

The bride, Miki Mulvehill, who comanages Johnny Lang, G.B.Leighton and Susan Tedeschi, chose MMC for her reception because co-owner Billy Larson is one of her best friends. A former rock musician and avid collector, he has posters from the old Prom Ballroom (advertising such long-gone names as the Fabulous Flippers) and album covers by Minnesota musicmakers from Jesse Brady to Jesse Ventura. Glass showcases pay tribute to artists of the past (Rook Granz, Doug Maynard, TaMara & the Seen) and present (Mick Sterling, Westside, Lang). And he's got the huge bar from the defunct Mirage nightclub.

The MMC features three distinct areas, so bargoers can hear the music and still carry on a conversation, either near the bar or in the billiards room. The actual music space has superior seating and a high ceiling. And of course, there's the dance floor, which was packed.

Given that the Minnesota Music Café books mostly R&B and blues bands, some might think it's trying to be St. Paul's answer to Bunker's. On Tuesdays, the MMC All-Stars come on like the old Dr. Mambo's Combo. But the MMC also provides a sense of Minnesota music history along with the funky music.