Music
Superior Porchfest 2023 Recap Video / 2024 Application
Planning has begun for the 2024 season of Superior Porchfest. Organizers are looking for performing musicians and neighborhood pop-up porch hosts. An open-call application is online at superiorporchfest.org.
Porchfest is a free, family-friendly music and art series in which attendees can bring a blanket or lawn chair, pack a picnic and/or simply stop by to enjoy the show. The performances are typically held either on a residential porch or at a city park.
Heart at the Duluth Arena in 1980?
I’ve searched high and low, but I cannot seem to locate any information about the Heart concert on March 5, 1980 at the Duluth Arena.
I was there with five friends but can’t seem to locate anything about it.
2023: The Year in Duluth Gig Posters
Behold another year of Duluth rawk and/or roll as visually displayed via Perfect Duluth Day’s traditional year-ending gallery of gig posters. (more…)
Greg Cougar Conley – “Our Someday”
Greg Cougar Conley has a new album, Cougar Country, set for release Dec. 29. The video above delves deep into the KSTP-TV St. Paul archive for footage of the maestro’s 1962 debut on the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company Variety Hour.
Sydney Hansen – “Kringle Tingle”
Duluth native Sydney Hansen has a new, original Christmas song. “Kringle Tingle” was written with Corey Lee Barker and produced by Kent Wells.
Interview with On the Record’s Kristi Olson
Duluth has seen a multitude of music and arts ‘zines over the years. They are a part of culture that connect and inform people about niche things in a community. In the past, Duluth has watched ‘zines such as The Transistor come and go, but now there is a new sheriff ‘zine-maker in town and her name is Kristi Olson, creator of Duluth music publication On the Record. Click on the image above to hear Olson open up about breaking the mold of the “good ol’ boys club” that made up the Duluth ‘zine-crafting community for many years.
Big Into – “Deep Snow Full Moon”
Iron Range natives Curtis Kraft Mattson and Jozef Conaway find what they are looking for in the latest video from their nerd-rock duo Big Into. The track is from the band’s upcoming EP.
Steve Solkela plays “Ievan Polkka” while unicycling
Local accordion sensation/goofball Steve Solkela is playing Minnesota gigs almost daily in December before his tour of Finland in January. (more…)
The Black Labels – “Blackboard Jungle”
Recorded at Beaner’s Central, now known as Wussow’s Concert Cafe, the week in September 2002. The track appears on the double album One Week Live at Beaner’s.
Shippee – “To You: (Merry Christmas)”
Duluth’s Blake Shippee has a new Christmas song. The video is directed by Lance Lindahl. (more…)
Rafe Carlson – “Backroad Love Story”
The latest from Hermantown native Rafe Carlson is this video from Bo Allen Productions‘ “Unwound Sessions.”
Big Into – “Velvet Drill Bits”
Two-piece groovy nerd-rock band Big Into is releasing a music video every month for each new track off of its upcoming EP. In the first, Curtis Kraft Mattson and Jozef Conaway are in a frantic quest for serenity that leads them down a long, winding path. What will they find?
Beyondbliss – “Comp. Glitch”
Superior-based rapper David Kittelson, aka Beyondbliss, asks if we are living in simulation in this video for a track from his new album Born Deaf.
Gaelynn Lea Talks About Disability Culture and Creativity
Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea is an advocate for connecting the creative disability community and reframing disability not as negative, but as a form of diversity. In this Twin Cities Public Television segment she talks about disability culture and performs a few of her songs at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. The segment is part of the “Disability, Culture and Creativity” episode of TPT’s mini series Art + Medicine, which aims to destigmatize disabilities through stories, art and performances.
Sparhawk touring Europe with solo project
The Guardian reported this week on Duluth’s Alan Sparhawk’s European tour, which features a set list of new songs that mine the depths of grief for his late wife and bandmate Mimi Parker.
The tour opened Nov. 11 with a performance at Le Guess Who Fest in Utrecht, Netherlands. It continues with three shows in Spain and two in Portugal.
Learning the back-story of “Random Acts of Radio”
I am sorting through items found at the College of St. Scholastica book sale, and I ran into this CD from the 1990s.
It feels like an argument could be made to submit this to the archives and special collections at the University of Minnesota Duluth as a significant artifact of the Duluth music scene. (more…)
PDD Gift Guide 2023
Welcome to the 2023 PDD Holiday Gift Guide, an annual tradition that highlights products made in Duluth and the surrounding area. You’ll find 16 gift ideas here, but the comment area is open for suggestions. (more…)
Rafe Carlson – “Bound to Get Burned”
Hermantown native Rafe Carlson has a new single, captured in this video from Bo Allen Productions.
Arty Duluth Concert Ticket Stubs
In general, concert tickets are not attractively designed. These days people show up at the gate with a computer printout as evidence of admission purchased online, or more often just hold up their phone to display a code. When there are physical tickets involved, they tend to be nothing more than a faded Ticketmaster logo with the show details in grey, all-caps print. And that’s just in the case of mainstream traveling artists.
When it comes to shows featuring local bands, there often are no tickets involved at all. Admission is frequently free or it’s a cash-at-the-door affair. But there are a few occasions where tickets to local shows get arty. (more…)
MN Moder – “Shooting Star”
The latest from Duluth-based hip-hop artist MN Moder is for all the dreamers. The video was produced by Montclair Media.
River City Records & Books open in Lincoln Park
Chris Huppert shops for phonograph albums Saturday at the newly opened River City Records & Books in Duluth. Huppert had list of 10 hard-to-find albums he was searching for.
Traffic was brisk at River City Records & Books on Saturday. The new store at 1814 W. Superior St. in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District opened on Friday at 3 p.m. (more…)
Beyondbliss – “Try Tomorrow”
Beyondbliss is joined by Slug and Jaze on this track from his new album Born Deaf. The visualizer was made with an artificial intelligence program.
Beyondbless – “Born Deaf”
The latest from Superior-based rapper David Kittelson, aka Beyondbliss, is the title track from his recently released album Born Deaf. The video uses artificial intelligence to take a trip through a human ear and experience sound for the first time as Kittelson raps about what he went through as a child born deaf.