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Jet-setting Fosston native brings YouTube series to Twin Cities
Last year, we held our winter edition of the Great Northern Radio Show in Fosston, Minnesota. The “jam” that inspired that show was this video, “Straight Outta’ Fosston” by rapper/comedian Bino White (Fosston’s own Joe Hanson). Hanson, who now lives in California, has a well-followed web series “Badge of Shame.” A mix of music, sketches…
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Great Northern Radio Show to rebroadcast Park Rapids show
UPDATE: You can now download the podcast here. This Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. you can hear the rebroadcast of my Great Northern Radio Show, which aired live last Saturday night from Armory Square in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota. The show will air on Northern Community Radio, including 91.7 KAXE (Grand Rapids and…
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Hej, Bob: Swedish scientists sneak Dylan lyrics into papers
Living or working in Bob Dylan’s hometown means you form connections with people for unusual reasons, beyond your control and unrelated to your own ego. Some guy, class of ’59 I think, wrote a thousand songs and got so famous that people in China learn English just to decipher his lyrics (good luck with that, China).…
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‘Great Northern’ weekend in Park Rapids starts now
My favorite weekends are Great Northern Radio Show weekends. They are exhausting, invigorating and inspiring. And another one begins today. The Great Northern Radio Show, my personal twist on the old variety show format, will broadcast live from Armory Square in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota, this Saturday from 5-7 p.m. on Northern Community Radio. At…
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Northern Minnesota restaurants lead per capita
It’s no secret that tourism is big business in Northern Minnesota. The hospitality and recreation industries employ thousands, while the ebb and flow of tourists are a big part of life here in the North Woods. I often write about Northern Minnesota’s economy, and how its actual composition compares with the idealized one usually discussed in the media. Mining, for…
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Today in Alt-History: North Minnesota and South Minnesota
A couple weeks ago I came across this feature from the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader in South Dakota exploring an interesting intersection of American history. In the time before Minnesota statehood and the dissection of Dakota territory, there was serious talk of splitting Minnesota on an east-west border instead of using the Red River as a north-south…
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Great Northern Radio Show in Park Rapids on 9/27
If you’ve wondered why posting has sluffed off some here at the Iron Range’s fastest-growing news and culture blog there is good reason. I’ve been writing the latest edition of the Great Northern Radio Show while balancing my usual mix of writing, teaching and cloak-and-dagger projects. I’m happy to announce that the script is done…
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No more dress-up for Bemidji’s Paul Bunyan and Babe
It’s not terribly difficult to find likenesses of Paul Bunyan and his trusted blue ox Babe in Northern Minnesota. And if it’s not Paul, it’s some cockamamie relative or ex-girlfriend that a town dreamed up as a hook. But among the most iconic Paul Bunyan and Babe statues are the pair you see in Bemidji,…
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The Empirical Strikes Back: Historians debunk speakeasy
Two weeks ago I joined media outlets around the state in reporting on the speakeasy re-enactment held at Annabella’s in Bovey, Minnesota. Organizers held a fun event recreating a Prohibition era party in an underground room featuring unusual “escape” tunnels. And, by most accounts, a good time was had by all. However, the way organizers…
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Floating concrete art project sinks in Lake Superior
The Ark of the Anthropocene at Duluth Harbor September 2014 #arkoftheanthropocene pic.twitter.com/m8JMMAeVbK — Sean P Connaughty (@SeanConnaughty) September 5, 2014 Last week, a floating concrete sphere sank in the Duluth harbor on Lake Superior. That’s weird. But it gets much weirder. The concrete sphere was an art project by Minneapolis artist Sean Connaughty called the…
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Trampled by Turtles on NPR’s ‘tiny desk’
Minnesota’s hometown band Trampled by Turtles appeared on the well-regarded NPR Music “Tiny Desk” concert series recently, with the video being released today at NPR (which you can view below). They performed three songs off their new album “Wild Animals.” Having enjoyed listening to that album, I appreciated the depth of the songs upon seeing them…
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Bob Dylan to play 3 nights near old stomping grounds
Lost in the analysis of Bob Dylan’s biography is the fact that Dylan’s relationship with his hometown of Hibbing, his birth town of Duluth and Minneapolis, the town where he went to college for a time, is pretty much the same as that of any artistic kid who made it big in New York and L.A.…
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Fargo wins Emmy for best miniseries; Tolman denied
Except for one outrage, it was a mostly wonderful night for the FX series “Fargo” at the 66th annual Emmys award ceremony last night in Los Angeles. Fargo wins Emmy awards for best miniseries, and best writing and directing. Billy Bob Thornton, nominated for best actor for the role of Lorne Malvo, wasn’t predicted to…
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Star Tribune joins Trampled by Turtles on the road
The Star Tribune‘s Chris Riemenschneider spent six days on the road with Northern Minnesota’s own Trampled by Turtles last month, with the full feature and photo package running in the Sunday edition. Hardly the salacious, sordid, soggy adventure that a Replacements tour would have been 30 years ago — although these guys are no choirboys…
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Laura Ingalls Wilder memoir shows gritty reality on the prairie
Last week on our way to South Dakota, my family took a detour along the way to visit the site of the Ingalls farm and dugout home north of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Though my wife and I were raised in remarkably different styles, we share the memory of our mothers reading us the Laura Ingalls…