Musician Ian Alexy is documenting his life and career during the COVID-19 pandemic through a documentary titled Making it Shine.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
When the pandemic started, painter Aaron Kloss decided to create a new painting every day and post it on his Facebook page. Six months later, he’s still going strong. In this short documentary by filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Aaron talks about why he paints and shows off some of his work.
Duluth-based folk singer Gavin St. Clair has a new EP titled Goodbye and performed a livestream concert last night on Facebook. The show starts around the 3:25 mark on the video above. Fundraising campaigns can be found at paypal.me/gavinstclair and venmo.com/gavin-clair.
Matinee Musicale has been putting on chamber music performances in Duluth since 1900. This year the entire season of performances will be online, for free, released monthly on Matinee Musicale’s YouTube channel.
The third video release from the Brothers Burn Mountain‘s new album The Dark Exchange was shot by Ryan Dermody. The brothers are joined musically on this track by Alan Sparhawk on electric guitar and vocals, and Brooke Anderson and Dawn King on vocals.
Lyz Jaakola is a musician and teacher from Cloquet, Minnesota. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Lyz talks about how her family responded to the pandemic with music.
Duluth made a brief appearance in Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update this week. The appearance is at the 2:54 mark.
Duluth-based Lyric Opera of the North is creating a virtual experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater group is teaming with the newly formed Decameron Opera Coalition, comprised of nine U.S.-based companies, to premiere Tales from a Safe Distance, a multi-week virtual opera inspired by an historic text, Boccaccio’s The Decameron. LOON presents the first act tonight, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m.
Iron Ranger Steve Solkela lives for ripping up a to-do list. His overpopulated one-man band expands to two on this track, with Matti Jarva on percussion.
Karen Savage-Blue is one of the artists featured in the Tweed Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Creating Apart: Local Artists Respond to a Global Pandemic.” In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Karen talks about a painting she created as a direct response to the pandemic.
Theater students at the University of Minnesota Duluth recently finished a run of outdoor performances of William Shakespeare’s Henry V. Auditions were in May, about three months into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Look for Duluthian Gaelynn Lea — or at least part of her — singing along in this new video by Jeff Tweedy.
There are also other people you may have heard of.
The latest release from Duluth native Dave Mehling‘s forthcoming album, Beach Boy, is this Steely Dan cover.
The Slamming Doors released volume one of a multi-part album titled Brown Bears this past summer. The video for the track “Grown Man” was shot at Quarry Park in West Duluth in early August.
