In the Twin Cities, Oktoberfest is starting to feel like a German version of St. Patrick's Day. So we went to three of the metro area's most well-known German restaurants and asked their owners what Oktoberfest means to them.

Q: Why drink beer out of a glass boot?

Pierzchalski: Because it's something special. It's a game. We have people who are 90 years old who drink the boot.

Q: What does Oktoberfest mean to you?

Pierzchalski: It's a festival for everyone. I like seeing people happy. And I like polka. People used to think that polka wasn't fun. They would say, "Mario, you're crazy." [Now], they say, "Mario, thank you."

Q: Do you drink out of the boot?

Pierzchalski: Yes, but not all of the time. I have to run the business.

Erica: Well, they love "Baywatch."

Gina: It's very tricky. We don't want to say terrible things about our [countrymen], and yet it certainly speaks of bad taste. Normally [Germans] are a very sensible people.

Q: What happens on Hasselhoff night?

Erica: We give away all these [David Hasselhoff] prizes. We have a "Knight Rider" lunchbox and thermos. There's a clock of David Hasselhoff holding puppies.

Q: How is your Oktoberfest different?

Q: What do you remember about your first Oktoberfest tent parties?

Quade: I remember just being excited by 200 people showing up. Typically, on a weekend now, we do 4,500. We have a very unique venue being that we're in the forest.

Q: Why is Oktoberfest in September?

Quade: People will call me in October and say, "When's your Oktoberfest." When I tell them it was in September, they say "Well, that's stupid! Why is it called Oktoberfest if it's in September?" I don't make the rules. Call Germany.

Q: What's up with Hammerschlagen -- is it really a good test of strength?

As break-ups go, Lookbook stayed pretty classy. Both members of the synth-pop duo cited unspoken personal differences as their demise came to light late last week -- and then they really didn't speak of them. Said singer Maggie Morrison, "With it only being the two of us, there needs to be an extremely strong relationship -- and we didn't have that."

Grant Cutler downplayed the split as no "big, dramatic thing," and stressed the positive: "I'm proud of all the music we've been making," he said, suggesting recent recordings could still surface. First, though, his debut EP as Grant Cutler & the Gorgeous Lords will arrive with a party Oct. 20 at the Turf Club. Morrison is also writing solo material and performing every Wednesday at Nick & Eddie with the electronic improv act H.U.N.X.

Looking back on Lookbook's whirlwind run, Morrison said, "It always felt like it was something greater than ourselves, like we weren't really controlling it. That was the first time I've had that experience in music."

The highest moments of Titus Andronicus and Free Energy's sold-out gig at the Triple Rock on Friday were when the two bands got together onstage and demonstrated where their common ground lay, in the form of two perfectly chosen, rowdily delivered covers. During its set, Free Energy kicked out a surprisingly earnest version of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Going Down," which the members of Titus A were bound by law to join in on because of their New Jersey ZIP code. Then toward the end of his quintet's exhausting headlining set, Titus frontman Patrick Stickles lured Energy drummer Nick Shuminsky to the stage with his cowbell, and urged his bandmates to shout and strut along to Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner." Throw in TA's blistering encore song choice by a whole different kind of Jersey band, the Misfits' "Where Eagles Dare," and the cover songs definitely raised the show over the high bar already set by two of this year's most exciting new guitar-rock bands.

Brass Messengers cornet player Ethan Johnson, 37, was killed Tuesday in a hit-and-run car accident two blocks from his house in south Minneapolis. Johnson's wife and parents were also in the car and survived, but his dad is still hospitalized in serious condition. Deep condolences and best wishes to them. Johnson's funky, 11-member, Carnival-meets-French Quarter ensemble originally came together around the Heart of the Beast Mayday Parade. They had so much fun, they made it a year-round thing, evidenced by a busy 2010 schedule. The group is scheduled to play the Cedar Cultural Center on Oct. 2. Johnson, presumably, would want the show to go on.

Without much hype or press, the hip-hop duo Atmosphere's dual EP, "To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy," crashed the Billboard charts at No. 37 on the main album chart, No. 9 in digital albums and No. 5 in independent releases.