Music
Cello needs friends!
I recently got custody of a cello. And happily, I’m not nearly as rusty as I thought I’d be. Seventeen years of piano teaching has helped quite a lot!
Now I want to find other people to play with! I’m at about an intermediate level. Would love to put together a quartet, but if anyone knew of some sort of orchestral option, that would thrill me beyond belief. But quartet I think could happen. Or trio. Violas are always sort of hard to find.
Which reminds me. I am also looking for a violist to play Rebecca Clarke’s viola sonata with me on the piano. It’s been something I’ve wanted to play for years but have never started because finding a violist isn’t exactly easy!
Any ideas? Anyone want to come over and play?
Music marketing rep needed in Duluth
Olympia Media Group is hiring three promotional representatives in the Duluth area to promote the nationwide Battle of the Bands contest.
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Duluth Album Releases in 2005
Low
The Great Destroyer
Sub Pop Records (Jan. 24)
Available at Sub Pop’s Mega Mart
Boy Girl Boy Girl
Sugar Skull Maker
(March 28)
Available on Amazon
Trampled by Turtles
Blue Sky and the Devil
(April 20)
Available on Amazon
The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Self titled
Consider it Correspondence (July 1)
Available on Amazon
Lost guitar pedals (Found!!)
UPDATE: Thanks to perfectduluthday.com, the sound guy at the Rex emailed me and said he found my pedals! Sure enough, one of the bands I share a practice space with accidentally grabbed it.
Instead of deleting this post, I will use it to illustrate how important PerfectDuluthDay is to our community. Thanks Paul & the gang!
Perfect Duluth Day Outdoor Summer Concert Primer 2012
Well, the snows have receded, so that means road construction and outdoor concerts. Here are a few highlights of the upcoming season.
June 15 | Trampled by Turtles
June 27 | Emmylou Harris
June 30 | Glen Campbell
July 1 | Wilco
July 7 | Twin Ports Bridge Festival (with the Jayhawks)
July 14 | Bayfront Reggae and World Music Festival
July 21 | Steve Earle & the Dukes
July 21 | Respect Your Mother Earth Festival
Aug. 3 | Bradfest
Aug. 5 | Bayfront Jam Music Festival (with Steve Martin)
Aug. 5 | Greg Brown
Aug. 10-12 | Bayfront Blues Festival
Aug. 31 | Cloud Cult with That 1 Guy
What outdoor concerts are on your radar this summer?
Calling all interested Duluth bands
I am interested in booking some bands into my bar (Classic Hard Times Saloon in Bemidji). We hire bands from the Minneapolis area and fill in with a lot of great local bands. I would like to get a new mix, so if anyone is looking for a gig or knows someone who is, contact us on Facebook. Shoot us a clip of your band and or some music. All genres welcome.
–Eric Nelson, Hard Times Saloon
PDD Shift: Kenspeckle Letterpress
Next up in our series of people at work, Rick Allen and Janelle Miller of the Kenspeckle Letterpress.
We interviewed Rick and Janelle while they were working to get pieces ready for their current show at Siivii’s Gallery in Canal Park.
Music: “Gone from Minnesota” by Loup-Garou.
Homegrown Origin Myth (2 of 3)
(When we last saw our heroes…)
Suddenly, the light was upon them! Surrounded by flames 20 feet high! The rebels cowered in fear and shielded their eyes. A thundering voice boomed, “I AM STARFIRE!!!”
Then the light dimmed. When they dared to look up, they expected to see a God-like creature. But such a creature was not to be found.
Instead, there stood a pleasant looking young man in a flannel shirt. (more…)
Kickstart Mary Bue’s Art
I’m in the middle of recording my 4.5th record “Apple in the Ocean” at Sacred Heart Music Center. Moving back to Duluth from Seattle, this was one of my goals of returning to town — to record in that stunning cathedral and work with my talented musician/sound engineer friends and play that gorgeous grand piano. I’m proposing to you to help support my project — and I’m over halfway there! You can pre-order the record and get some other goodies too at my Kickstarter page.
Thank you so much for your support and it has been pretty awesome to be back here and reconnect with so many of you. Wonderful musical, artistic and community things are happening, just as I remember it!
Reflecting on Coolio in Duluth
Ten days before Homegrown 2012, Coolio came to Duluth. I find myself looking back and wondering how the hell I ended up at that show, standing in the back next to Jellybean Johnson, listening to a mid-1990s rap star talk about eating sushi at Black Water and how “Duluth bitches are all dimes.”
Trampled by Turtles @ Big Top not sold out
FYI — the Trampled by Turtles show at Big Top Chautauqua on June 15 is not sold out. I’ve heard a number of rumors that there are no more tickets left, but grounds passes — ‘rain or shine’ — are still available.
Women Musicians in Homegrown
Did anyone notice the low number of female performers at the Homegrown Music Festival this year? I did. There seemed to be about eight male performers for every one female. If you don’t want to count just look at the steering committee, it’s pretty representative of the entire festival. There are a few wonderful women and a bunch of men.
The ladies are around performing with a variety of styles unique to themselves and Homegrown! They may be harder to find in that giant Homegrown Field Guide, but if you looked closely you’d find some on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, not peak days. Often these women have to be underground, persistent or be extra bad ass, which they are, to get noticed. They often try harder and get less recognition.
I don’t want to start a fight, maybe just a good discussion, I’m just saying we noticed.
Best Homegrown Surprise
Ultra Day at Amazing Grace. I didn’t know what to expect from a band with punk-rock roots at the Grace, but these guys were good! They matched their sound and volume to fit the venue, and even did a couple a cappella numbers.
Homegrown Art
As usual, the Homegrown Music Festival has generated huge quantities of buzz, and remains a real showcase for what’s happening in the Northland. I was especially interested in the Homegrown arts facet, caught every opening and even the Lake Superior College opening that was not part of Homegrown … and a little music as well. So much to see and not enough time to write about it all. I did sum up my Friday and Saturday evenings this morning on my blog at Ennyman’s Territory.
Kudos to all organizers, volunteers, bands, and artists who once again made this a very special week for the Twin Ports community.
Patron of the arts enjoying a set of images at Prove Gallery Saturday night.
Who won Homegrown 2012?
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Bratwurst – 13.6 percent
Gallus – 9.6 percent
Tangier 57 – 7.2 percent
The Blasphemists – 5.6 percent
The Surfactants – 3.8 percent
Big Wave Dave & the Ripples – 3.1 percent
The Keep Aways – 2.9 percent
Dead Guys – 2.9 percent
Sexhawk – 2.4 percent
Various other bands – 48.9 percent
Homegrown 2012 Memories
Huge thanks to Walt Dizzo, the steering committee, all the volunteers, and the artists for making the 2012 version of Homegrown one of the best. Now, for the sake of recording history, please post your favorite moments from the week – the best shows, the best overheard comments, the most memorable moments…
Teague Alexy – “Riding on a Ferris Wheel”
New video from Teague’s brand new album This Dance.
Kickball of the Living Dead
The 2012 Homegrown Kickball Classic has already been referred to as the “most pathetic in Homegrown history,” and if you were there you would know this as fact. There were beer bongs. There was a full-body chicken suit. There were children who may or may not have been scarred for life. Through it all, Saturday’s team came through with a 6-4 victory, but it wasn’t pretty.
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Homegrown 2012 Photo Retrospective
View the full set of 226 images from Homegrown 2012 on Flickr. (more…)
Homegrown Origin Mythology (part 1 of 3)
Our story begins in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety eight, A.D. in a city built upon a hill, overlooking the greatest of the Great Lakes, the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas – Duluth!
For those too young to recall, these were dark days in our fair city. The musical landscape was largely barren – a virtual wasteland of yellow beer and cover bands. A dark cloud hung perpetually heavy upon the arts community. A fog of pessimism and oppression obscured the vision of what this city could offer and whispered a sinister, “move to Minneapolis.”
In this darkest hour, a small group of rebels were desperately fighting to establish a foothold for original live music and authentic culture. One dark and dreary night they gathered at Enger Tower. Among the rag-tag group of rebels – Bacigalupo, Monroe, Lindquist, Brewhouse Boys, The SparHawk, and Rick Boo.
Retribution Gospel Choir – “Maharisha”
New Retribution Gospel Choir video by Dan Dresser.
Homegrown at Clyde Iron Works Log
11:15 a.m. – Contrary to rumors, there is no sign of campers at Clyde. (Via: Christa Lawler @DNTAnE) (more…)
Bill Meier — “Katelyn”
Video by Tomas Soderberg, with Erin McConnell, Max Moen, Talia and Morgan Martens and Doug Odlevak.