“Looking Up from Below” was a video mural designed by Tom Moriarty and Daniel Benoit that was projected onto the side of Zenith Bookstore in West Duluth during the Homegrown Music Festival. The temporary art installation was meant to showcase whimsy in times of troubles.
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.
Duluth band Cities Never Sleep has taken a musical trip off the Florida Keys to the magical fictitious land of Kokomo. Joined by saxophonist John James Ryan Jr. from Keep Flying, the band perfects its chemistry by turning a Beach Boys hit from 1988 into a post-pandemic, pop-punk chroma-key party.
Another monthly dose of wheeled sneaker stunts by former Duluthian James Geisler, also known as the hip-hop artist JamesG.
Just in time for prom season, Steve Solkela and his Iron Range friends have a new music video for those left feeling alone on the shelf, like an oatmeal raisin cookie. Hey, sometimes the healthiest option gets picked last.
The 1999 movie Los Enchiladas! drops references to both Duluth and Superior. It’s not clear whether the character Driftwood Dan lives in Duluth or merely collects driftwood in Duluth, where his mother resides.
Silver Brook Township’s Mike Scholtz has a new documentary, produced for the southwestern Minnesota Pioneer PBS series Postcards.
The subject is Ignatius Donnelly, an American congressman, populist writer and amateur scientist known for his writings about the lost continent of Atlantis. The story begins near the town of Donnelly, roughly 200 miles southwest of Duluth, and takes viewers on a wild ride exploring the amazing legacy of the man.
Duluth actor Jody Kujawa plays the role of Donnolly in reenactment scenes.
The pandemic put the kibosh on official in-person events during the Homegrown Music Festival, but with restrictions easing up a bit there were numerous unofficial events accompanying the hours upon hours of online video content put out to avoid a superspreader.
In addition to the slaptogether kickball game, outdoor video art installation in West Duluth and the scavenger hunt, there were little bits of actual live music happening with limited attendance. The video above captures clips of some of the unofficial activities, with a note that nothing is officially unofficial, it’s all unofficially unofficial, really.
Saturday’s online Homegrown Music Festival content begins with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra‘s season-ending show, From Beethoven to Milhaud. At the 2:18:43 mark a big blawk of local rawk begins.
Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea composed the music for this video, which features 21 acrobats from around the world performing movements layered with animation.
A bit more than two hours of local rawk and/or roll comprise the Homegrown Music Festival‘s Friday content.
From the days when digital video quality was horrific, we present the Black-eyed Snakes at the Red Lion Lounge during the Homegrown Music Festival … two amazing decades ago.
Shot by Chris Bacigalupo on May 4, 2001.
Thursday’s Homegrown Music Festival content is three and a half hours of livestreamed music from 2104.
May 7, 2011 — Freddie Tyson and his beautiful backup singers perform “Pop that Thang” at Pizza Lucé during the Homegrown Music Festival.
Duluth native Dave Mehling has a new ambient album, Tired Fruit, out tomorrow, May 7. “Will Bloom” is one of five tracks on the digital release.
Bandcamp waives its revenue share on the first Fridays of the month during the pandemic to help support artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic.
Monday’s Homegrown Music Festival video content includes the annual showcases of poetry, photos and music videos … along with a short movie starring Teague Alexy.
