They keyboardest for the Rez melted my face off the last two songs of thier set. Homie was in an alice in wonderland like trance. :)

The Surfactants!!!! of course!!!

Always dangerous to start listing, there were so many great shows.  We could all list the obvious (the NorShor is an experience to remember) but beyond the big names, here are my favorites:

Poor Howard
Words to a Film Score
Canine Heart Sounds
Tangier 57
Boomchucks @ TPB
Undesirables
Iron Range Outlaw Brigade
Trip down memory lane (Sat night at RTs)

Great surprises:
AM Herculis - their sound really came together
Healthy Band Music Club - great, fun sound
Chad's homerun

Saturday night at RT Quinlan's was AMAZING, just thinking about my lost youth and how my favorite bands only play at Homegrown brings tears to my eyes. A lot of it was the "intimate" venue and seeing lots of people I like there. 

Ballyhoo and Fr Hennepin was fricking brilliant!

Burly skewering bone apetit and his own crowd at Luce. Brilliant.

I hope Burly at least said something funny about Bone.  He was gonna come do something during our set, but got kicked out of the Rex.  I rode up and shared a hotel room with Baby Grant, so most of my highlights involve that dude!

Hidden Roots and Rachael Kilgour at Sacred Heart on Sunday were both excellent. Two Many Banjos and The Rez were both wonderful at Bev's on Thursday night. Of course TBT was great and I also liked North at the Brewhouse on Saturday night.

I only got out on Saturday and only to RT's... I think seeing everybody and their brother (except Zra who was home with the brood) out was really cool... LBB rocked the house and the Fromundas kicked ass. 

I heard a rumor about our Mayor getting moshed during Little Black Books, though... true? 

Next year, we're sending the kids to Grandma's.

Highlights for me include a great night of bullshitin with old friends at Quinlins on Sat. night, seeing the Norshor packed, Ethan kicking ass on the bass with Freddie and Dan, seeing Dan kicked out of the Rex ... blah blah blah.

Tangier 57 was fun.  

Rock Brigade was the best show no one saw.  Damn they were entertaining.

First half of Father Hennepin was good.  When the Tangier 57 horns stepped up to the stage it was GREAT.

The smooth sounds of James and Younger blew me away. Really set my weary Sunday morning mind at ease.  They were class.

I enjoyed the Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses show at the Brewhouse on Sat!!  Anyone else catch THAT?

Little Black Books were good too!

1. The third chorus of "too high to die too drunk to fuck" by Boner Petite.
2. Chris Wittier's insights into Rick Boo at the roast.
3. The first chorus of "too high to die to drunk too fuck" by Boner Petite.
4. Chatting with the Mayor.
5. Watching the sun rise on Sunday morning.
6. The 15 minutes I spent bumpin and grindin with all the hot babes at the Red Star after my Sat. set at the Brewhouse
7. The Fat Hen's set at Quinlin's, still the stickiest, most beer drenched dance floor in the northland!
8. My slide solo on "The Two Fingered Willie."
9. All the beautiful happy smiling people.
10. The drunken mayhem that happens on the trolley.

Yeah, I caught the Matt Ray set ... FUN FUN FUN!!

Someone needs to say something about the Hotel Coral Essex.  That was probably my favorite show.

Also: Fred Tyson.  Good lord.

Two Many Banjos were incredibly tight.  And, just as I was about to turn around and fight through the crowd for a drink, the violinist handed me a beer.  Because Homegrown is magic.

The DT's were really cool.

As were Rusty Borealis.

Posing for pictures with the wizard, seconds before he got sawed in half, was a personal highlight.

And Coyote in Amazing Grace was perfect.

I'm still dehydrated, still exhausted and irritable, and I think that my eardrums are permanently damaged.  But it was perfect.  All of it.  Thank you thank you thank you everyone who makes this happen.

Well, my tastes run to the less raucous than some, but my enjoyment was just as great. My picks (not necessarily in order):

Kip Jones - music I have never heard before
Total Freedom Rock - very in the moment
Tangier 57 - smart music + horns
Kathy McTavish - the score to my film life

Thanks to all who contributed to a week-full-o'-fun.

Batteries at Teatro on Sat nite was a good show.  Lots of people came in to groove to them.

Turtles at the NorShor Main Theatre was amazing.  When RGC joined them onstage & the light show was going & everyone was grooving in their own way, it was incredible.  Great, great cover they all did of "Down By The River" by Neil Young.

Then on down the street to see Ballyhoo at RT's.  Didn't even try to get in, it was so packed! - Just stood on the stairs enjoying the show.  What a show!  And pretty much a good view too!  Ballyhoo was rockin'.

This one guy setting up his amp & guitar in an empty doorway, playing on Superior Street.  On my way to RT's, I asked him his band name & he said "The Best Band."  Funny.

Mostly, seeing old & new friends.

It cracked me up at the Rex when Cars & Trucks played there, I hugged C-Freak and then a wave of people -- like, a tsunami!-- swept us forward a few feet -- I held on to C-Freak for dead life.