Hey Mayor Ness....What was YOUR favorite performance at Homegrown??

My faves: The Surfactants at RT Quinlans, Cars and Trucks at Luce, Cougar at Luce, Paul Mayasich with Billy Franze, and John Farrel and Eric Swanson and all the great sound guys.  The guy at The Brewhouse who tried to supply an extension cord.

Four Horse Johnson is a band I'd never heard of that I really like, now...  Todd Gremmels's birthday party was a blast... Coyote was magical... Fred Tyson's show was one of the most surreal experiences of my life...  The Supertacks rocked my face off (though in a bittersweet way-- did I hear Aaron say it was their last show?)...  The Tisdales are just a great fucking band... I've seen Father Hennepin a lot of times, but never loved it that much (though I blew my shot at lasting fame-- Starfire stuck the microphone in my face, but it turns out that I don't actually know the lyrics to "Dead Flowers".  I must have just been shouting out random things).  

And you played "Mohawks", Father Hennepin!  Jesus Christ.  The one thing that would've been missing from the experience was the opportunity to shout along to "Mohawks", and you filled that hole...

And then Manheat ended their set with "Can't Hardly Wait".  How perfect.

Oh!  And Equal Xchange was terrific.  Why don't you play more often, Equal Xchange?  Or do you play all the time, and I just haven't been noticing?

But really: Paul Connolly, everyone on the steering committee, musicians, scenesters, writers, poster-hanger uppers, kickball enthusiasts, everyone: thank you.  You reminded me of why I live in this town.  

What a great week.

I would Like to thank Paul Connolly for managing to somehow pull off something that seems like it would be impossible to organize.  Also Jen Rask was great as volunteer organizer.  I worked the door on Thursday and Friday, and everything was set up for us perfectly.  I would also like to thank C-Freak, she was like a second venue manager at the Main on Thursday.  Just a little more forceful about keeping to the schedule than the official venue manager.  Let's just say Doc Hyde was lucky he finally got off when he did.

As for the music, I really enjoyed the Hadjis.  Fred Tyson was a trip.  He pretty much danced through the entire one hour DJ set that preceded him taking the stage.  Not sure how he had enough energy to play his own set, I didn't even have enough energy to stick around for the whole thing after a late night on Wednesday.  I worked the landing at RT's on Saturday, so I wasn't able to hear much or see the bands at all.  But from what I could tell The Surfactants were probably my favorite.  Unfortunately I had a wedding on Saturday which usurped my going out and putting my free pass to work.

Next year I will plan on taking off Thursday and Friday from work.  Getting up at 6am is not conducive to a positive Homegrown experience.  And no damn weddings!

Equal Xchange hopes to play more shows this summer. We have a CD coming out soon that we recorded ourselves and, at this point, plan on having Eric Swanson mix for us.  Thanks for asking!

Big Country and the Up North 33, The Keepaways, Hobo Nephews, Yeltzi, Coyote, The Mean Darkleys and The Lone Rangers are my top picks. Wish I could have been up all week!

Paul Connolly is amazing and I someday hope to have him father my bastard children. 

p.s. does anyone know who that lady that got up and sang with me Sat. night was?

Everything I heard and saw was amazeing!!!!

My wife and I pushed through little sleep and colds to make it to as many bands as we could.

Loveing every minute of it!!!!

Holy shit got some great video of Three Song Sunday and The Keepaways!!!!!

Awesome scene and amazing work Homegrown peeps.


Thanks You!!!
Thanks You!!!
Thanks You!!!

Deborah & Todd