The Storm Before the Quiet: A Lizzo Memory

This is not the spot to find MPLS-era Lizzo slander, nor it is the spot to find some shining endorsement of Lizzo delivered with some certainty that she isn’t guilty of some of the things she has been accused of lately. I actually have some faith that the accusations against Lizzo will be aired out and resolved in a more even-handed manner than most accusations are. I believe because these lawsuits will deal largely with employment law that we will see better and more thorough treatment of the accused and the accuser. No, I am writing about Lizzo because hearing about the accusations of her former dancers had me thinking about the handful of years when Lizzo was absolutely ascendant and though the industry was listening nationwide, we were the only city that was actually rocking with her. We were the petri dish. I booked Lizzo’s MPLS group the Chalice for a summer camp residency at McNally Smith probably summer of 2012 I’m gonna guess?? I think the pay was $1200 for two performances and two come-here-and-meet-students things. Lizzo is now a Brazilianaire. But the first couple of those years of growth in MPLS wasn’t exponential growth. It was just well managed growth. Sell out the Triple Rock. Sell out the Mainroom. Play that place Myth for a New Years show. The shows were getting rave reviews. She was getting played on the Current and a handful of other stations. But she was still broke. Remember the Boston Bombing? April 15, 2013. I was taping a video thing for Dessa and Caroline Smith was practicing next door. Lizzo’s car, or maybe her friend’s car died, I had the Triple AAA card to get it jumped. I was around Lizzo but not in her sphere. She sang back up with Dessa once when I was with Dessa. We played a cover of PM Dawn at a Cedar Cultural Center thing. Lizzo absolutely tore down a version of “The Beautiful Ones” with Heiruspecs at the Fitzgerald. When I was at the Current my co-host Sani and I got to interview her in 2019 here.

Recently, when Lizzo’s dancers came out with a laundry list of grievances and ill-treatment it had me thinking about this one particular moment I had in the summer of 2014 related to the Lizzo world. Quinn Wilson, a brilliant creative director and video producer who was in Lizzo’s sphere for quite some time stood in solidarity with the dancers who started this lawsuit, though Wilson herself is not part of the lawsuit. You can see her post summarized here.

But look, in 2014 I decided I wanted some extra nice ass coffee and everyone had been talking about Dogwood. At the time they had a spot in Calhoun Square in Uptown. Calhoun Square no longer exists in Uptown. But I went down there early on a Saturday, presumably to write trivia questions or promote a Heiruspecs show, the two primary things I did on a laptop at the time. And while I was working in my comfy little chair I could see a young woman working away in Illustrator on a Lizzo/Caroline Smith poster.

And let me tell you, I was just impressed with everything about this situation. At the time Lizzo and Caroline Smith were smoking hot in the local music scene. I believe this show turned into two shows and I believe they both sold out with crowd to spare. And I remember looking at this incredibly dedicated young woman who I would learn was Quinn Wilson working away at the poster. I guessed that she was probably coming out of MCAD given our proximity to the MCAD campus and I just got excited about these young movers and shakers in the scene, working hard to make everything look right. I don’t know shit about graphic design, but Quinn was trying all sorts of different shit to make the flyer look right, color balances, tints, logo placements. And the show probably would’ve sold out if they had printed one poster that said “Lizzo and Caroline Smith at First Ave” in Times New Roman size 22. But the whole package was inspiring. I was jealous because no young up and coming designer was waking up early on a Saturday to knock out a poster for one of my upcoming sure to be sold out shows at First Avenue. I could feel the energy and I was jealous, but I was also inspired. Look at this crew of people, rallying behind a couple talented artists and delivering the goods. Seeing Quinn layer away on that computer, I wanted to walk up and introduce myself but I had no idea what to really chime in with. “I jumped Lizzo’s car last year”. I just had no entry point, and the reality is, a laptop at a coffeeshop should be correctly read as “leave me the fuck alone unless whatever you are bringing is very useful”. I didn’t see the angle so I just admired the attention to detail in making this flyer and I remember thinking what a beautiful team I was witnessing. Go forward a couple years and Quinn Wilson is out in Los Angeles, making it happen, doing the video for Juice and presumably lots of other awesome stuff for Lizzo. That’s basically five years from when I saw Wilson working away on a coffeeshop in Minneapolis to her producing the video for a Billboard charting tune. And now we flash forward five more years and she’s doubling down on Lizzo’s problematic behavior and standing in solidarity with these singers.

What a journey, from the come up, to the top of the world, to a falling out on the level where you aren’t trying to be in Lizzo’s world at all. These women have seen things on their journey that I haven’t navigated in my career. Some tangible, recorded highs, and also clearly some lows that are truly concerning. But that day when Quinn Wilson was working away on that computer just sticks in my brain. The commitment you need to put in to do your craft, the need for your to ride the waves that will take you out of your current situation and into the station you belong to be at in life. It’s a journey, it’s amazing and I was thankful to watch Quinn Wilson on part of her journey. I hope that the parties involved in this set of Lizzo accusations get to something resembling justice. And I hope Quinn Wilson keeps on shining in her current pursuits, because she’s been making cool shit for a long ass time.