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A Prairie Home Companion seeks new host?
Garrison Keillor has benched himself as tonight’s “A Prairie Home Companion” program host. Folk musician Sara Watkins will take his place. Keillor will make appearances in sketches and perform his customary “News from Lake Wobegon” monologue, however. Speculation is that Watkins is getting a tryout as Keillor mulls retirement in the next year, though the…
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How does it feel, to be somewhat older than before?
The Wall Street Journal poses the question “Should Bob Dylan retire?” The Duluth native and Hibbing-raised musician is a favorite here as I help coordinate Dylan Days in Hibbing and have long been a fan of the man’s songwriting and songs, particularly his 1965-1975 catalog. This is not the first time we’ll be asking such…
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My secret project is not-so-secret trend
The New York Times Book Review has a story (“All Programs Considered” by Bill McKibben) that fits nicely, perhaps too nicely, with thoughts I have been having lately about the direction of my writing and media projects. You know that this blog and my columns, essays and book, are professional in that I am sometimes…
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Paul Bunyan flash mob, a folk tale
KAXE-Northern Community Radio is expanding, forming a new affiliated station in Bemidji called KBXE. Northern Community Radio is more than radio; it’s internet, news and original programming across the northern Minnesota spectrum. Anyway, to bring attention to the upcoming changes organizers staged a “Paul Bunyan flash mob,” in honor of Bemidji’s famed Paul Bunyan and…
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Sounding off on sound
I’ve been getting a great response to my humor commentary about “Sound” that was broadcast on 91.7 KAXE last Saturday. It features the first professional voice work by young George and Doug Brown (don’t worry about the budget; they work for Goldfish crackers). If you’d like to know what my radio work sounds like, take…
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Brown on the Air: SOUNDS!
What’s your favorite sound? What’s your least favorite sound? My weekly contribution to the Saturday morning call-in/music show “Between You and Me” on 91.7 KAXE joins the unique program’s rotating topic of “sounds.” I share both good sounds and bad in an essay that I originally titled “The Sound and the Furry” because I thought…
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Weathered Iron Ranger tops British charts
Bob Dylan’s new release “Together Through Life” has topped the UK charts. This is Dylan’s seventh British #1 but the first in 39 years, breaking a record for the longest gap between #1 records. Dylan Days in Bob’s hometown of Hibbing, Minn., are May 21-24. This is a grassroots celebration of music, literature and art…
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You win this round …
Dammit. On the same day the Hibbing Daily Tribune runs my column about hitting a deer with my Ford Focus station wagon, the Duluth News Tribune runs Janna Goerdt’s column about hitting a moose with her Subaru. Not only does she get the bigger, rarer and much more literary dead animal on which to pontificate,…
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The joy of context
This is the kind of headline that lights up the Iron Range: “Yes, Virginia, Menards is coming“(Mesabi Daily News, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008) In case you’re wondering, Menards is a home improvement store. That’s a very important detail. Also, Virginia is a town on the Iron Range. Also another important detail. I’d hate to imagine…
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Thoughts and prayers to Mike
My thoughts and prayers are with Mike Jennings, editor of the Hibbing Daily Tribune and one of the best working newspaper journalists on the Iron Range. He has been hospitalized with a heart condition and faces a difficult recovery. Tribune publisher Wanda Moeller tells the dramatic story in today’s edition. Join me in wishing Mike…
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Show me the money … in fractions of pennies over the fullness of time
The problem with the new media is that very, very few people can make a living in it. Blogging is popular, diverse and exciting; but utterly unprofitable. I do this blog because A) I am an obsessive news geek addicted to information and politics; B) It soothes my insatiable ego; and C) I justify the…
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Overburden on Hibbing radio today
I did an interview this morning for the Hibbing radio show “The Craig and Kate Affair” which will be rebroadcast today at about 5:30 p.m. on 650 AM WNMT. After the sun sets AM frequencies carry hundreds of miles, reaching many far away places. I don’t know why they ever switched to FM. Darn kids.…
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Overburden media tour fires up
I’ve been doing interviews for my new book, “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” and you’ll start to see and hear some of these in Minnesota media. Jeff Warner is writing a story that will run in the “Tailings” section of the Sunday, Oct. 12 Hibbing Daily Tribune. “Tailings” is like the A&E section,…
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Acronyms? Environmentalists? Developers? Politicians? Run the story!
The Mesabi Daily News has not one, not two, but THREE stories about environmental laws as they relate to mining. Hot damn. Buy a copy early because the kids like to buy these up and sell them on the eBay. If you DO follow such stories, enjoy these links: Environmental group hits PolyMetCommittee members tour…
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In the basement with Bob Dylan’s English teacher
I had written several times about StoryCorps, the NPR/nonprofit initiative to record, archive and broadcast interviews conducted between regular Americans and their loved ones. The mobile studio spent weeks in Grand Rapids talking to people all over northern Minnesota. The facilitators also went out on assignment, interviewing unique characters. At the StoryCorps blog, Alex shares…