Oar Folkjokeopus
From Minnewiki
Oar Folkjokeopus (commonly known just as Oar Folk) was a Minneapolis record store that operated on the corner of Lyndale and 26th from 1972 until 2001. The store was considered one of the staples of the Minneapolis rock scene in the 1980s, along with the Longhorn, and became a hub for musicians in the Twin Cities and the Midwest.
History
Vern Sanden purchased what was then North Country Music in 1973 and redubbed it Oar Folkjokeopus (the name was based off a solo album by Alexander Spence, a founding member of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, "Oar" and an album by British folk musician, Roy Harper, "Folkjokeopus").
The store was a hangout for a range of Minneapolis musicians, such as Steve Almaas and Ernie Batson, Gary Louris, Dave Pirner and Marty Keller, Tony Glover and Bob Stinson. Peter Jesperson managed the store from 1974 until 1984. Jesperson co-founded Twin/Tone Records during this time and the store and the label thrived due in large part to each other. Between Twin/Tone, the Longhorn and Oar Folk, this trifecta largely fueled the punk and rock scene in Minneapolis during that era. Bands like the Replacements, the Suburbs, Flamingo, Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, Curtiss A all maintained links between the three.
In 1984, a fire completely gutted out Oar folk records, and all of it's staff left. Vern Sanden reopened his record store with the help of Mark Trehus, who ran his own indie record label Treehouse Records.
Today, Treehouse
After Oar Folkjokeopus closed in April, 2001, Mark Trehus opened a store at the same site known as Treehouse Records. Much of it’s original character has stayed the same. Treehouse Records has become well known for it's diverse styles and formats of music. They specialize in having a large amount of vinyl LPs, vinyl 45s, and both new and used CDs.
