Music
Duluthian Sadik Hakim featured on Jazz Profiles blog
“In 1982, the music world lost a legend with the death of Thelonious Monk. At Monk’s funeral, thousands gathered to pay their respects. One of Monk’s former colleagues sat at the piano and played, according to legendary jazz writer Ted Joans, “a sad but soulful” version of Monk’s own “’Round Midnight.” That pianist was Duluth-native Sadik Hakim, who played and recorded with jazz icons from the 1940s to the 1980s. Down Beat magazine described him as “one of the unsung veterans who helped forge the bebop revolution.”
Sadik Hakim: A Remembrance by David Ouse
Iron Range to host inaugural craft beer festival
The Iron Range’s first craft beer festival is on tap this Saturday in Virginia. In addition to a craft beer village, the Olcott Fountain Brew Fest will feature food, live music and kids’ activities.
The event is a fundraiser organized by the Olcott Park Fountain Restoration Committee, whose mission is to restore the park’s historic fountain to its former glory.
“It’s the first brew fest north of Duluth. We seem to have a lot of interest from all over the Iron Range, which is awesome,” says Carly Gobats, who curated the event’s brewery and music lineup and serves as the its volunteer coordinator. (more…)
Witness Relocation
When I moved to Duluth from San Francisco in July 2004, my fiancé Jeremy and I rented a first-floor apartment in a 100-year-old house on Third Street. The elegant flight of stairs inside our foyer was an egress for the upstairs apartment, so we had to keep the door between us unlocked. Jeremy didn’t seem worried; he had been living in Ely, where everyone leaves their keys in the ignition. Turned out our upstairs neighbors were a couple of women who rescued abandoned baby animals and nursed them with eye droppers. I stopped worrying about it, too.
From our back porch we grilled brats, drank Lake Superior Special Ale, and gazed at the brewing company’s namesake. I had never had a porch, a grill, or a view this pretty. As I looked across the blue water I felt my shoulders relax. I felt off the map, like a witness relocated: no one from my past life could find me here unless I wanted them to.
Then one morning in the window of Positively 3rd Street Bakery I saw someone from my past on a poster for the Bayfront Blues Festival: Koko Taylor. Now I was old enough to see her sing. The last time I was not, and that was a long time ago. (more…)
Girl from the North Country reviews are in
The Stage, a weekly British newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry, has compiled reviews of the new Bob Dylan-inspired play set in 1930’s Duluth. Girl from the North Country, written and directed by Conor McPherson, opened earlier this month at the Vic Theater in London.
Critic Fergus Morgan notes the show “boasts a large, diverse cast, and 20 Dylan songs from across his career, pared down and rearranged for the stage by Simon Hale and performed by a live, onstage band.” The setting is described as “a run-down Minnesota guesthouse during the Great Depression. We’re in Duluth, Dylan’s place of birth, seven years before the singer-songwriter entered the world.” (more…)
Clare Means – “Duluth Song”
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Clare Means was in Duluth recently for a performance at Wade Stadium. While here she recorded a “Duluth Song” and released this video, set to images of the Western Duluth Little League Intermediate Division District Tournament Team, which defeated Lake Park 15-5 on July 11 to claim the 2017 Minnesota state championship.
Glitteratti – “Ask the Mrs.”
Here it is, the debut single from Duluth band Glitteratti‘s album In Pasadena, schedule for an Oct. 10 release.
Mike Watt at the NorShor Theater: “Eyegifts From Minnesota”
The documentary Eyegifts From Minnesota, by Bill Draheim, follows Mike Watt and his band at the time, the Jom and Terry Show, as they drive into Duluth and load in for a performance at the NorShor Theater on May 28, 2002. They tour the old R. O. Carlson’s bookstore, do some sightseeing in Canal Park and spend the night at Shaky Ray Records before heading south for shows at the Turf Club in St. Paul and the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.
Watt wrote extensively about the tour, and the Duluth stop, on his “Our Oars Became Wings” Tour 2002 Diary. He marvels in the diary and in the film about seeing Lake Superior for the first time. He also mentions in the diary getting a tour of “the secret tunnels” under the NorShor and how it “feels haunted down there.” (more…)
Sweat Equity – “Hot Shower”
Duluth’s Paul Broman and Kevin Craig started reviving the Minneapolis funk, soul and synth-pop sound with their band Sweat Equity in 2013. Finally, the video for their single “Hot Shower” has arrived.
RoofTop Fable – “It’s All So Complicated”
Duluth band Rooftop Fable will be hosting a release party for their album “Nuanced” on Saturday, July 22 at Blacklist Brewing. The event will also feature Emily Jayne & The Blue Plate Fella’s, Honest Maude, The True Malarkey and cabaret performances by The Duluth Dolls.
The video above is from the album and features aerial acrobat and contortionist, Cheryl Birch, and was filmed at Ignite Studio in downtown Duluth by Brian Barber.
Actual Wolf – “Baby Please”
“Baby Please” is the first single off the Actual Wolf album Faded Days, available now digitally and on cassette. The record release is scheduled for Sept. 15.
Eric Pollard, aka Actual Wolf, splits time between Duluth, Grand Rapids, Nashville and so on.
The video is directed by Erik Nelson.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at Head of the Lakes Fair 1987
With the Head of the Lakes Fair underway this week in Superior, it’s fitting to take a look back 30 years ago when Joan Jett and Blackhearts graced the fairgrounds stage. Fortunately, a bootleg recording exists of the Aug. 15, 1987 show. (more…)
Dylan musical set in Duluth
Perfect Duluth Day reported in early May that a new musical play written and directed by Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan was scheduled to open at the Vic Theater in London in July. What wasn’t known at the time is the play is set in Duluth.
Audio clips of two tracks recorded as part of a workshop for Girl from the North Country can be heard in the PDD post from May. Three reports verifying the setting of the play are listed below.
From the BBC New story “Bob Dylan: Conor McPherson on writing the musical“:
Conor McPherson has set the play in a guesthouse in Dylan’s birthplace of Duluth in Minnesota. It is called Girl from the North Country, after a track Dylan wrote in 1963.
Lyte Source: Todd Luffa
In the pilot episode of a new “musical series aiming to explore sources of inspiration and intrigue,” Minneapolis-based soft-noise artist Todd Luffa performs on the beach at Minnesota Point in Duluth.
The Lyte Source series was created by director Gordon Byrd and producer Aubree Miller of Minneapolis, who “aim to bring performances to settings too intimate or bizarre for audiences to normally inhabit. To capture a sensory experience and transform it into a unique collaboration.”
Soul Brothers: Big Wave Dave and the Ripples
WDSE-TV‘s The Playlist has released it’s 2016 documentary on Big Wave Dave and the Ripples for internet viewing. Here it is: 49 minutes and 34 seconds of funk, soul, rhythm and blues.
The Ballad of Clayton, Jackson and McGhie
Local musician Bill Nash produced this music video in May, recalling the June 15, 1920 lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie. (more…)
2 Dope Queens discuss Justin Bieber’s Duluth chakra
At the very onset of episode #36 of the 2 Dope Queens podcast, hosts Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson drop a reference to Duluth while going over items on Justin Bieber’s tour rider. (more…)
Perfect Duluth Day Outdoor Summer Concert Primer 2017
Summer is upon us (you can tell because that big hot bright ball is occasionally up in the sky), and that means a gaggle of outdoor concerts are in the PDD Calendar, ready for consideration. Of course, the usual suspects like Bayfront Festival Park and Big Top Chautauqua are in there, as are smaller series like Bayside Sounds, Chester Creek Concert Series and Summer (Mostly) Thursdays. Here’s a peek at some of the upcoming sure-to-be highlights:
June 16
Everclear
Canal Park
1990’s hitmakers Everclear, Vertical Horizon and Fastball perform during Grandma’s Marathon weekend in Canal Park.
June 16
Lake Ave Live 2017
Canal Park
Local original artists also get some tent time at this two-day tenttacular.
June 23
Warren Nelson
Big Top Chautauqua
The founder of Big Top Chautauqua, Warren Nelson, celebrates 50 years in show business with a concert of songs chosen from way back to now.
Àlamode – “My Mistake”
WDSE-TV’s The PlayList captured Duluth-band Àlamode performing at the Sports Garden during the Homegrown Music Festival in May. The electro-dance pop outfit is comprised of Alex Piazza, Nathan Holte, Ned Netzel, Peter Knutson and Rio Daugherty.
Video Archive: Benaszeski Brothers Polka Band in 1983
Time for yet another classic from the collection of the late Emil Praslowicz, digitized by his grandson, Kip Praslowicz. In this edition a dance frenzy ensues at Chet & Emil’s in Birnamwood, Wis. as the Benaszeski Brothers bring the rock-infused polka action.
Standing Alone
Duluth filmmaker/musician/artist Ariane Norrgard just premiered this at the Zinema. It is about Anishinaabe elder, Jim Merhar, of Coleraine Minnesota, who once rocked both the Armory and the Opry.
Accordion repair school plans return to Duluth
Th
e world’s largest accordion museum and education center has started plans to restore and reopen a building that served as its home more than a decade ago in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.
A World of Accordions Museum Director Helmi Harrington said earlier this week the organization will relocate an accordion repair school from current museum headquarters in Superior to its former site at 2801 W. First Street in Duluth. Harrington recently repurchased the historic church building and its adjacent parsonage out of St. Louis County foreclosure and started a tax payment plan for the property.
“Anyone who has visited our museum in Superior knows it’s crowded and our spacious building is no longer spacious,” said Harrington. “The idea for moving just the repair school to Duluth is not inexpensive, but it’s something we need to explore.”
A World of Accordions Museum is located in the Harrington Arts Center and features more than 1,300 instruments, an extensive recording library and art collection and thousands of accordion-related artifacts. Its nine-month accordion repair program accepts about 20 students annually from all over the world. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea on The PlayList
The May 25 episode of WDSE-TV‘s The Playlist is a documentary about Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea, with performance segments shot at the Red Herring Lounge and First Avenue’s 7th St. Entry.
Reflectivore – “Ticonderoga” (Live at Homegrown 2017)
“Ticonderoga” is the opening track of Washburn-based Reflectivore‘s self-titled debut album. The band has worked with director by Kjell Kvanbeck of True Norse Films on several videos. The latest uses footage from a live performance at the Red Herring Lounge during the Homegrown Music Festival. It’s the band and director’s “introduction to the live show being a multimedia/multidisciplinary performance.”
