-
Great Northern Radio Show: Actual Wolf
This week I’ll be talking up the featured guests for Saturday’s Great Northern Radio Show, broadcasting live from the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. MinnesotaBrown readers can still get free tickets by calling 218-327-5780 (seating at 4:30, live on Northern Community Radio at 5). Today, it’s Actual Wolf. A lot of people ask if…
-
Here’s what you won’t see: thousands of floating candles
This is cool, but will not happen. (Kernz & Kompany) Looking ahead to the Sept. 21-23 hot-air balloon festival slated for this September in Duluth, Minnesota, event organizers quickly retracted a June 11 press release touting the launch of thousands of wax-fueled paper luminaries into the sky over Lake Superior as part of “Le Festival…
-
Hibbing native’s homegrown indy film premieres at LA Film Fest
Publicity still from “Pollywogs“ Hibbing native Karl Jacob (he goes by that, though is Wiiliainen by birth) filmed his independent movie “Pollywogs” here on the Iron Range in 2011. Last week it premiered at the L.A. Film Festival to good reviews. Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press recently wrote about the movie, which…
-
Land of the Loon arrives in Virginia, MN this weekend
This weekend brings Land of the Loon, a festival of arts, crafts, music and family events in Virginia, Minnesota. This Iron Range event kicks off a long summer of street dances, festivals and Fourth of July celebrations. A few years ago we saw a magician set his goatee aflame while trying to eat fire at…
-
Paul Bunyan slasher pic on national TV tonight
Sharpen your eyes, America. It’s time to see what’s in plaid sight. “Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan” airs TONIGHT on SyFy at 8 p.m. CST. Check your local cable or satellite listings. “Axe Giant” is the oddly enjoyable B-movie I’ve been advocating for no compensation, purely of my own volition. It chops down…
-
Great Northern Radio Show hits Reif Center stage June 29
We’ll be doing the summer edition of the Great Northern Radio Show from the stage of the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on Saturday, June 29. My seasonal variety show is, on one hand, a simple incarnation of the traditional radio variety program, on the other it’s a rather quirky exploration of northern Minnesota…
-
Dylan tickets moving fast, but not cheap
This Robin Washington column from Sunday’s Duluth News Tribune shows that the tickets for the July 9 Bob Dylan concert at Bayfront Park in downtown Duluth are selling well, but that some remain if you head down to the DECC to get them. He also raises an important point, something that concert-goers in Minnesota have…
-
Arts camp for kids at historic Iron Range park
The 19th Annual Northstar Arts Camp will be held at the Iron Range’s famous Mesaba Park near Hibbing next week from June 17-20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The camp, which costs $90, “offers children ages 8-13 an opportunity to experience dance, music, theater and puppet making, as well as nature activities.” Mesaba…
-
Paul Bunyan slasher pic gets Duluth showing
“Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan” was reviewed by Christa Lawler of the Duluth News Tribune today. The movie will enjoy a weeklong run at the Zinema 2 on Superior Street in downtown Duluth. I’ve actually watched the movie now and will post a review when a northern Minnesota showing is scheduled further. Apparently,…
-
Campaign seeks to name Duluth street after Telly Savalas
Who loves ya’ baby? Did you know that Telly Savalas, best known as Kojak on 1970s and ’80s TV, once lived in Duluth, Minnesota? It’s totally true. And now a Facebook effort to get Duluth to name a street after the lollipop-loving character actor is underway. When I was a small child I was left…
-
Finnish baby boxes for everybody
My cousin Adam sent me this interesting story about why every newborn Finnish baby spends time in a cardboard box. In fact, this special box that almost ever Finnish mother gets is a universal experience for all classes, a cultural touchstone for several generations. From the Helena Lee story at the BBC: It’s a tradition…
-
Bob Dylan to play Duluth this summer
News just broke that Bob Dylan will return to his birthplace of Duluth to play at Bayfront Festival Park on July 9. WDIO reports: An announcement has confirmed that Bob Dylan & His Band will come to Duluth and play at Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park on Tuesday, July 9. The concert begins at 5:30 p.m.…
-
Duluth’s Bob Dylan sculpture project launches Kickstarter
A small scale rendering of the sculpture image. Today sculptor Tom Page and his organization launched the Kickstarter page to raise funds to put a Bob Dylan-themed sculpture. The art would be placed in downtown Duluth, the city where Dylan was born, just down the road from Hibbing, the city where he grew up. I…
-
B’nai Abraham shares Range Jewish history with stories, music
B’nai Abraham Cultural Center, Virginia, Minnesota When the Iron Range received a surge of immigrants in the early 20th Century it become one of the most diverse places in the country, a fact that often seems foreign on the Iron Range of today. Among its many groups was a vibrant Jewish community, and though that…
-
The last day of school
Ned Horton, Creative Commons license The last day of school is that giddy feeling in your gut, warmed over by sunlight felt even through the clouds where your head goes until you see mom or dad and you realize that this is still the world, a sad fact that is not so sad when you…