Great Northern Radio Show returns to Bemidji April 13

Spring slowly seeps into Northern Minnesota. Celebrate with the April 13 broadcast of my Great Northern Radio Show at the Chief Theater in Bemidji, Minnesota. Get your tickets here. I always tell you these things are good and that you should come. I suppose by now you either believe me or you don’t. The Latelys… Read More →

March 3 Great Northern Radio Show set for Bemidji

Hello, reader. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with you. Somehow I’ve managed to keep a brisk output of posts here at MinnesotaBrown.com this year while still working on my other projects. That’s something to celebrate as I bring my Great Northern Radio Show to Bemidji State University on Saturday, March 3. My… Read More →

Northern MN eelpout festival seeks new home

Eelpout aren’t pretty. These bottom-feeding freshwater fish fail to win any beauty contests, often surviving solely on the fact that anglers refuse to touch them. And that’s fine by the eelpout. But for 38 years, the annual Eelpout Festival in Walker brought revelers and outdoor enthusiasts to the frozen surface of Leech Lake at Walker,… Read More →

New laws may block language counselors at Concordia

The director of the Concordia Language Villages program warns that new immigration and visa laws could dramatically impact its language and cultural immersion program located on a complex near Bemdiji, Minnesota. “There has been a very significant development over the weekend regarding our J-1 Camp Counselor Exchange Visa, writes Christine Schulze in a letter posted… Read More →

Great Northern Radio Show this Saturday in Bemidji

I’m excited to report that my Great Northern Radio Show returns to the airwaves and the stage of the Historic Chief Theater in downtown Bemidji this Saturday at 5 p.m. They tell me tickets are selling fast so get yours now (audience should be seated by 4:30). For everyone else, the live event airs from 5-7 p.m. on… Read More →

Great Northern Radio Show back March 4 in Bemidji

Barring some big news, the blog will go dark the rest of this week. I’ll be finishing the script for my next Great Northern Radio Show, live from the Chief Theater in Bemidji, Minnesota, on Saturday, March 4. This will be a good one. We’ll be celebrating the vibrant music scene in Bemidji with a… Read More →

Happy Paul Bunyan Day!

I woke this morning to news that it was Paul Bunyan Day. So, Happy Paul Bunyan Day, I guess. I’m afraid I didn’t get you a card. I’m already dressed, so I’m not even wearing plaid. Paul Bunyan is, of course, the American folk giant who worked as a lumberjack in the heyday of the… Read More →

Bemidjigamaag Powwow is Saturday

When the first-ever Bemidjimagaag Powwow was held last year at the Sandford Center arena in Bemidji, Minnesota, something powerful took place. In a community marked by past tensions between natives and whites, people from the three Ojibwe bands that border the city and those of non-native ancestry joined together for a shared powwow. Following up… Read More →

Thomas X empowers with new rap on native issues

Red Lake rapper Thomas X is out with a new single and a powerful new video combining his unique hip-hop sound with the traditions of Northern Minnesota’s Annishinabe people. Here’s Rezolution, the latest single from Thomas X: Thomas X was a guest on last year’s Bemidji edition of my Great Northern Radio Show after his previous album “Have a Good… Read More →

Leech Lake elects new chair; LaDuke falls short at White Earth

After announcing the funding for the new Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School near Cass Lake on Election Day, Leech Lake Tribal Chairwoman Carri Jones was nevertheless defeated by challenger Faron Jackson, Sr. KOJB reports that Jackson won with about 53 percent of the vote t0 Jones’ approximately 31 percent. Five other candidates combined for the remaining support. Jones… Read More →