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Underwater Christmas tree on the Iron Range
Finally, a Christmas tree you don’t have to worry about watering! The Mesabi Daily News shares the story of an underwater Christmas tree decorating event at the Mesabi YMCA in Mt. Iron. Related posts: No related posts.
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Bob Dylan and the Iron Range
I happened across a 2007 essay “A Trip to Hibbing High” by the Bob Dylan historian Greil Marcus, one of the best known scholars of Dylan’s work, after his trip to Hibbing that year. I recall his visit because of my work with Dylan Days, but had not read the piece before. He describes a…
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Team USA curling advances to 2014 Olympics
The Shuster rink, with Duluth and Iron Range roots, qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia at a tournament in Germany over the weekend. Though the experience involved a heart-pounding tie-breaker and a tight match against the Czech Republic, Team USA prevailed and will try for its first medal since 2006. From the…
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Great Northern Radio Show weekend is here
This “Straight Outta Compton” parody video by the Fosston-raised rapper turned big city comedian Bino White was our initial inspiration when we started working on tomorrow’s Great Northern Radio Show in Fosston, Minnesota. My radio variety program heads to this northwestern Minnesota farming town Saturday, Dec. 14 for a live broadcast 5-7 p.m. on Northern…
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Grand Rapids’ Actual Wolf has top MN album of 2013
Grand Rapids, Minn., native Eric Pollard’s alter ego Actual Wolf was seen performing at a coffee shop in his western Iron Range hometown today, a jaunt home for the Duluth and Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter who is quickly moving up in the music world. Actual Wolf’s new self-titled album is out now and the Wolf is…
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Great Northern Radio Show, live from Fosston
For the last two years I’ve been producing, writing and hosting a live radio variety program called the Great Northern Radio Show. We’re a production of Northern Community Radio, where I’ve written and produced programming for many years, but this is the show I’ve been waiting my whole life to do. Yes, it’s a take…
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Great Northern Radio Show: Katie Wig
Brainerd-based Minnesota singer-songwriter Katie Wig was an early discovery on the Brainerd edition of my Great Northern Radio Show in 2012. She also performed in Bagley last spring. The 20-year-old recently announced she was going to focus full time on her music. That’s a bold move, and she’s starting on our December 14 show in…
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Great Northern Radio Show: Reina del Cid
On Saturday, Dec. 14, I bring my Great Northern Radio Show to the small farming community of Fosston, Minnesota, for our annual winter show. Our program brings music, comedy and storytelling to unique locations around northern Minnesota, exploring what it means to live a modern life off the beaten path. Each show is planned around…
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Insider tips on how to dress for cold
This is how you dress for cold. Dress warmly, in layers. Cover your skin. Wear snow pants or long underwear: both when it’s below -20. Seal the parts of your clothing that could open to the air (where mittens meet coat, scarf over the collar). Invest in good boots. Prioritize your warmth this way: Feet,…
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Great Northern Radio Show in Fosston Dec. 14
I’ll be bringing my Great Northern Radio Show to Fosston, Minnesota, on Saturday, Dec. 14. The show airs live on Northern Community Radio from 5-7 p.m. We offer free seating at the Fosston Library Arts Center before 4:30 p.m. This will be our holiday/winter special and we have some surprises in store. The show seems…
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The Bobby Aro Story airs tonight on PBS North
UPDATE: I watched The Bobby Aro story on WDSE last night and it was well worth it. If you were a Bobby Aro fan in the day you’ll be amazed at the memories, but even if you’re younger, like me, you’ll hear a story about a radio star with a compelling personal story who did…
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Interactive Dylan video ‘channels’ new art concept
Though it’s already been around the internet for a week or so, this new interactive Dylan video is a groundbreaking must watch. Bob Dylan’s classic song, “Like a Rolling Stone,” has been named by the magazine Rolling Stone as the most important rock ‘n’ roll song of all time (to be fair, the magazine drew…
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Bob Dylan: ‘I’ve been around iron all my life’
(POST UPDATED 11/18/2013) — Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, raised up north in Hibbing on the Mesabi Iron Range. Much is made of his relationship with his hometown. He, like many Iron Rangers in the 1950s, left and built a life elsewhere. Bob Dylan’s life so happens to include five…
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‘Second week of deer camp’ in Minnesota
It’s the world famous second week of deer camp here during the Minnesota firearms deer season. Some folks have been out hunting nonstop, the rest are coming back today to try, in earnest, to get the deer that eluded them during the first weekend, or to elude their families and responsibilities as was the original…
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Minnesota native Bob Dylan awarded Légion d’honneur
The nation of France awarded iconic singer/songwriter and northern Minnesota native Bob Dylan its highest distinction this week, the Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honor). According to the BBC, French cultural minister Aurelie Filippetti gave a glowing speech Nov. 13, 2013, citing Dylan’s influence by French poetry and how he inspired student uprisings in the 1960s,…