I'm alway late jumping in but here goes:  Mike Baker lived in the Jackson school neighborhood for a while, you could hear his drumming blocks away.

Mr. Petes, Showcase(in the old bus depot), Williams Pub, the Warehouse all had the Minneapolis hey-day bands come through: The Phones, Flamin' Oh's, Whiskey River and others mentioned. 

The Cove Cabaret held some one-off shows back in the 80's and had live music steady as well. Atlantis comes to mind as a 70's Duluth band putting out original music.  The Suburbs played the Cove on a Miller tour - they would spray the crowd with beer before the encore.

I recall local cover bands puttiing out singles - Hostage and Thrush are stashed away in my record collection somewhere.

There was a lot of Duluth talent in Minneapolis back when cover bands were still king in town - someone mentioned the F**S**Biscuits - they played a huge show at First Avenue opening for the Libido Boys - loud and sweaty back when the air-conditioning sometimes worked.  I think one or two of the FSB's worked with Mean Larry & Friends - they had t-shirts declaring themselves "banned from Duluth" - and many other bands too.

I sang in the Emerson school choir back when it was a school and they had an auditorium with a stage and everything.

Mike Baker was rehearsing for a show at Washington Junior - back when it was a school with an auditorum complete with stage and balcony - and our teacher heard him practice and within about a half hour most of the school was taking time off and sitting in the auditorium watching him bang those drums.

Phil Solem was in M A Free Press with Mike Baker for a while.