Craig Finn, of the RandBall-endorsed The Hold Steady (and previously of the even better Lifter Puller), participated in a wide-ranging Q&A recently with the Eye On Baseball folks. You can read the whole thing here, but we wanted to excerpt a couple of questions that are of particular interest, perhaps, to Target Field music enthusiasts. He's probably preaching to the choir here with the hipster-leaning crowd, but ... EOB: I'm assuming you've been at a Twins game at least, where they've played one of your songs, but what was it like the first time you heard your own song at a baseball game?
CF: It was at the Metrodome. The music guy there got in touch with me and knew I was going to be at the game and he played eight Hold Steady songs during the Twins game. And the other music he played was Bruce Springsteen and the Replacements. So I felt like I was being serenaded by my own mix, so it was pretty amazing. I feel like my relationship with Minneapolis is strong. I sing about it a lot and we get good crowds there. There are times where I always feel like I'm really accepted by the city and that was one of them. I've heard (the Hold Steady) once in Target Field. Unfortunately they let that guy go and they used to have amazing music at the dome, they'd play smart music, stuff you don't always hear at the ballpark. I was disappointed they let him go and they got some sort of Top 40 DJ, playing Lady Gaga.

EOB: That's terrible when you have a place like Minneapolis that's so rich in music history.
CF: You want the park to be connected to the city both architecturally and vibe-wise. I thought when I'd go to a game and hear the Replacements, this is what makes our city different. That we really understand what we have musically and honor that. I thought that was unfortunate that it's gone away. But whatever.

H/T to J.S. for the link.

Remind us never to get into a beard-growing contest with Craig Finn, Kevin Love, or just about anyone for that matter.