State Fair Grandstand review: The ‘Happy Together’ tour summons up the ‘60s yet again

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Between sets at any Minnesota State Fair Grandstand concert, a State Fair trivia quiz is projected onto the large screens on either side of the stage. In honor of that tradition, here’s a quiz about the six 1960s acts who performed for 4,626 fans of vintage pop at Monday night’s “Happy Together” show. The answer to each question is either the Turtles, Jay & the Americans, “Little Anthony” Gourdine, Gary Puckett, the Vogues or the Cowsills.

1: Which act’s biggest hit came at the suggestion of TV producer Carl Reiner?

2: Which act has no original members?

3: Which artist was born in Minnesota?

4: Only one of Monday’s performers is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Who is it?

5: The core duo of Steely Dan — Donald Fagen and Walter Becker — toured in the backing band for which act?

6: Only one song performed Monday night was Billboard magazine’s biggest-selling song of the year. Which was it?

Here are the answers, with a bit about how they sounded Monday night.

1: Reiner suggested the Cowsills cover the title song from the groundbreaking countercultural Broadway musical, “Hair,” for a TV special he was producing. It closed their infectiously energetic and nicely harmonized set Monday.

2: Up until shortly before showtime, the answer would have been the Vogues, which is what is called in the business a “ghost band.” And it’s a decent one, as they showed on a fine version of “Five O’Clock World,” buoyed by soaring yodels. But the lone original Turtle, Mark Volman, had to withdraw from the concert for health reasons, so it was true of two groups.

3: Gary Puckett was born in Hibbing, but moved west in childhood. Now 82, his voice remains distinctive, but it’s increasingly frail, making such cringe-worthy fare as “Young Girl” even more so.

4: In 2009, “Little Anthony” Gourdine was inducted into the hall with his vocal group, the Imperials. He was in terrific voice for a man of 84, leaving the impression we were in the presence of musical royalty, especially on the evening’s saddest tune, a deeply affecting “Hurt So Bad.”

5: Fagen and Becker toured with Jay & the Americans in 1971. Jay Reincke is the group’s third “Jay,” and he did a fine job of hitting the falsetto notes of “Cara Mia” and selling the vintage doo-wop of “This Magic Moment.”

6: The Turtles started this whole itinerant oldies fest in 2011, and have brought it back to the Grandstand seven times since. But lead singer Howard Kaylan has retired and turned that role over to Ron Dante, who’s most famous for singing lead on the Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar,” the most popular song of 1969. He sang it Monday, with Volman’s harmonies handled by the leader of the exceptional quartet that backed all of the acts, guitarist Godfrey Townsend, concluding the set with the blissful pop tune that gave the tour its name.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

Blue Jays pound Ryan, Twins from the start

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TORONTO — Max Scherzer pitched six innings and won his third straight start, Alejandro Kirk and Andrés Giménez homered and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 10-4 on Monday night.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added a two-run single as the AL East-leading Blue Jays won for the 30th time in 39 home games.

Scherzer (5-2) allowed four runs and four hits, including two home runs. He struck out five and walked one. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 10-2 in 19 career starts against the Twins.

Minnesota’s Matt Wallner homered twice off Scherzer, his 18th and 19th, but the Twins lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Twins starter Joe Ryan gave up four runs and four hits in a shaky first inning. Bo Bichette hit an RBI single and a second run scored on Daulton Varsho’s sacrifice fly before Kirk hit a two-run homer, his 11th.

Giménez extended the lead with a 422-foot drive on Ryan’s first pitch of the second. The homer was Giménez’s sixth.

Ryan (12-7) matched a season high by allowing six runs and seven hits in five innings. He lost consecutive starts for the first time this season.

Wallner hit a solo shot in the fourth and a two-run drive in the sixth. It was his first mult-ihomer game of the season and the second of his career.

Guerrero started at designated hitter, his first start since leaving an Aug. 18 game at Pittsburgh because of a sore left hamstring. Guerrero popped out as a pinch hitter in Sunday’s loss at Miami.

Key moment

Kirk’s two-out, first-pitch homer in the first capped a four-run inning.

Key stat

The Blue Jays are 57-3 when they score five or more runs.

Up next

Blue Jays RHP Chris Bassitt (11-7, 4.18 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday against Twins RHP Bailey Ober (4-7, 5.05).

Toronto Blue Jays’ Nathan Lukes runs in to score on a single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, left, waits for a throw during sixth-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Vikings trade cornerback Mekhi Blackmon to Colts

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As the Vikings prepared to finalize their roster, they flipped young cornerback Mekhi Blackmon to the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Originally a third-round pick out of USC in 2023, Blackmon looked like a promising prospect as a rookie. He then suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament last year during training camp and hasn’t looked the same since.

Though he was able to return to the Vikings ahead of training camp this summer, Blackmon struggled to carve out a niche for himself. He was immediately beat out by cornerback Jeff Okudah in a position battle and slowly but surely found himself falling down the depth chart.

The fresh start might be good for Blackmon.

Meanwhile, the Vikings continue to accumulate a war chest of picks in the middle rounds, which could help them in their reported pursuit of veteran receiver Adam Thielen. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see the Vikings pursue a veteran cornerback at some point soon after parting ways with Blackmon.

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Trump fires Fed Governor Lisa Cook, opening new front in fight for control over central bank

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By CHRIS RUGABER and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook late Monday, a surprise move constituting a sharp escalation in his battle to exert greater control over what has long been considered an institution independent from day-to-day politics.

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Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform that he is removing Cook because of allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week.

Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences — in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Atlanta — in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those purchased to rent.

The announcement came days after Cook said she wouldn’t leave the seven-member Fed board despite Trump previously calling for her to resign. Senate Democrats had expressed support for Cook.

“The Federal Reserve has tremendous responsibility for setting interest rates and regulating reserve member banks. The American people must have the full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook, a copy of which he posted online. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”

Trump argued that firing Cook was constitutional, even if doing so will raise questions about control of the Fed as an independent entity.

“The executive power of the United States is vested to me as President and, as President, I have a solemn duty that the laws of the United States are faithfully enacted,” the president wrote in the letter to Cook. “I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office.”

The firing is likely to touch off a legal battle and Cook could be allowed to remain in her seat while the case plays out. Cook would have to fight the legal battle herself, as the injured party, rather than the Fed.

FILE – Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook, right, talks with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before an open meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, June 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

It is the latest effort by the administration to take control over one of the few remaining independent agencies in Washington. Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting its short-term interest rate, and even threatened to fire him.

Forcing Cook off the Fed’s governing board would provide Trump an opportunity to appoint a loyalist. Trump has said he would only appoint officials who would support cutting rates.

Powell signaled last week that the Fed may cut rates soon even as inflation risks remain moderate. Meanwhile, Trump will be able to replace Powell in May 2026, when Powell’s term expires. However, 12 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the chair might not guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.