Music Posts

Video Montage: Homegrown Music Festival 2017

Clips from Duluth’s 19th annual Homegrown Music Festival, featuring Kat Fox, the Latelys, the Unlikelys, the Black-eyed Snakes, the Social Disaster, Low Forms, Father Hennepin, Robot Rickshaw, Willie Diction, the Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League and Fred Tyson.

Homegrown Kickball Classic: Friday shuts out Saturday

Team Friday celebrates after winning the 2017 Homegrown Kickball Classic.

DULUTH, Minn. – The Friday bands shut out Saturday to win 2017’s high-stakes Homegrown Kickball Classic 8-0, tying up the overall series at 9-9.

A pair of songs from the cast of the new Bob Dylan musical

The two tracks in sound embeds above — “Sweetheart Like You / True Love” and “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” — were recorded as part of a workshop for a new musical play written and directed by Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan. Girl From The North Country will open at the Vic Theater in London in July.

The voices featured on both tracks are Bronagh Gallagher, Claudia Jolly, Debbie Kurup and Jack Shalloo.

The Making of “Your Unknown”

In this 10-minute video, director Shane Rock Nelson documents Duluth band Glen’s Neighbor recording its second album, Your Unknown. The album was recorded at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls in October and released in April.

Glen’s Neighbor plays Saturday night at 11 p.m. at Blacklist Artisan Ales during the Homegrown Music Festival.

Denfeld Lip Dub 2017: “24K Magic”

The fourth annual Denfeld High School lip dub video features the Bruno Mars song “24K Magic,” plus the school fight song and four minutes of credits and bloopers. The video was shot and edited by Nick Olson with additional camera work by Jake Hillton.

“World’s Smallest Record Store” opens in Bovey

Business North reports Tim “Edwards” Verthein, morning host and chief engineer at 1320 AM KOZY radio in Grand Rapids, has opened a new record shop in Bovey, about 80 miles northwest of Duluth. The occasional store opened on April 22 in recognition of Record Store Day.

The Business North story notes Edwards launched his own radio station three years ago and is using the same 8-by-10-foot storefront to retail his collection of 40,000 records. He calls it “The World’s Smallest Record Store” or KEBS Records and Radio.

The Dames – “Head of State”

Here’s another selection from this year’s Homegrown Music Video Festival. The song is from an upcoming release of rarities by the Dames, scheduled to drop with the fall leaves. The video is by Brian Barber.

The Black Labels – “Sex Train”

One of the seven videos in the Homegrown Music Video Festival is this piece featuring archival footage of the Black Labels performing at Duluth’s Red Lion Lounge at least 10 years ago. The bar closed in 2007 and the space was repurposed for the Zeitgeist Arts Café. The video was edited by Emily Norton.

Video Archive: Paul Connolly cuts a 2007 Homegrown promo

Ten years ago the Homegrown Music Festival was in its ninth year — second year as a nonprofit. Don Ness was festival director at the time, but steering committee member Paul Connolly was called on to make an appearance on WDSE-TV’s Almanac North to talk with hosts Julie Zenner and Eric Olson. Connolly went on to serve as festival director for the 2008 and 2009 festivals.

Following the conversation, the band Cars & Trucks performs “Over the Moon.”

Homegrown Music Festival 2017 Primer

If this isn’t your 19th time attending the Homegrown Music Festival, here are some links that might be helpful:

Homegrown website
Homegrown schedule
PDD Chicken App schedule for smartphones
Homegrown Facebook page
Homegrown Twitter page
Seasons 1-4 of Seth Langreck’s Duluth Band Profiles

Admission wristbands are $30 for the full eight days of music, but there are also many free-admission events.

There are 199 bands on the schedule. A 100-page Field Guide is available to help navigate the festival. Pick one up at any Homegrown venue or various random locations.

The hashtag for this year is #hgmf17. The same hashtag applies for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

This is the first Homegrown in which a ridesharing service is available. The Lyft app has been functioning in Duluth since April 27.

A double dose of the Little Black Books

Former Duluth rawk and/or roller Mark Lindquist has released two new videos — “They’re Never Wrong” and “Fading Captain” — to promote his band the Little Black Books‘ midnight gig on May 5 at Rex Bar during the Homegrown Music Festival. In recent years Lindquist has lived in Crow Wing County, near the geographical center of Minnesota, so Duluth gigs have been rare. He plans to reunite with drummer Jim Hagstrom and guitarist Bob Olson for this year’s Homegrown show.

Duluth Band Profile: Dance Attic

Dance Attic dusts off the antiques from your grandparents’ house. Jimi Cooper and Suzi Ludwig explain how their ablum Cabin Fever creates its own type of magic. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.

Paul McCartney booked to play Duluth … Georgia

Paul-Mccartney

Paul McCartney announced a set of U.S. summer tour dates yesterday. According to a City Pages story and comments on paulmccartney.com the press materials for the tour originally stated it “takes Paul to three cities and venues he’s never played before” including a July 13 show “at the Infinity Energy Arena in Duluth MN.” McCartney’s website has since fixed the error, clarifying that the Infinity Energy Arena is in Duluth, Ga.

Duluth Band Profile: Reflectivore

Allen Cragin and Ryan Rusch of Reflectivore walk the line between life and death. After the loss of Cragin’s wife, their self-titled album doesn’t shy away from the joy and desperation of the healing process. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.

Glen’s Neighbor: Unraveling the Mystery

the band

This is one heckuva story about an amazing band you might never have heard of, but are sure to love. I plumbed the depths on this one by inviting myself to philosopher/frontman Blake Shippee’s home, joined him on his daily six-mile roundtrip walk to work, became an audience at a full rehearsal, and more. Along the way, I lost my mind a bit. The perils of immersive writing… Check out this inspiring story for yourself at Ed’s Big Adventure, and become richer for it.