The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

I can't remember any year in which people were as eager to ring out the old and ring in the new as they are this time. Lots of us just want 2008 to be over with, and we're prepared to stay up till midnight just to make damn sure the year doesn't linger a minute longer.

There is less agreement on the best way to celebrate: one last blow-out for old-times sake, or do we start the living next year's resolutions the night before - you know, living sustainably, and sensibly and within our means? In either case, there are lots of options.

A gauntlet of black-and-white portraits of jazz luminaries lines the walls of the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. Nearly all of these musicians have appeared at the Dakota in one of its two incarnations. The trick with this sort of self-promotion-as-interior-decoration is in the execution.