Last month I brought my Great Northern Radio Show to Bemidji State University for our latest blend of Northern Minnesota-themed variety programming. I think it turned out well, with plenty of funny bits and good music. The program aired live on Northern Community Radio and featured a sold out venue at the Thompson Recital Hall at BSU’s Bangsberg Hall.
We were fortunate to book Ingeborg von Agassiz right before her new album “O Giver of Dreams” dropped. That album got the best review in the history of the Duluth News Tribune the week after our show aired. She sings many of the same songs on our program. Ron Arsenault and Dave Pengra performed their blend of guitar duets and storytelling. Our house band “Katie and the Opes” featured Katie Houg on piano and vocals, Doug Quance on drums, Aaron Schnackenberg on bass and the great Kristi Miller on mandolin and vocals.
You can listen to the whole show or just selected segments at the Great Northern Radio Show website.
We featured several great guests, including Gary Rozman of the Beltrami County Historical Society; Spencer Knox, a BSU philosophy student, and Red Lake High School junior Autumn May and her teacher Marcia Roline. May was selected for a prestigious history award and will travel to France to research a native WWII hero who was lost at the Battle of Normandy.
As always I have to thank our Great Northern Radio Players Jason and Louisa Scorich, Brett Carter, C.J. Anderson, Katie Carter and Lauren Nickisch on foley sound. Our production team of Sarah Bignall, Tammy Bobrowsky, Penny Holcomb, Dan Houg and Chad Haatvedt, along with the entire staff of the radio station — all of whom kick in during the long strange production week.
Our next Great Northern Radio Show will be June 23, 2018 at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids. Our featured musical guests will be the Holy Hootenanners and the Don’t Tell Darlings, along with many other surprises.
Here’s a few pictures from the March 3 Bemidji show, courtesy of our show’s staff photographer Grant Frashier:
