Category: Projects

  • ‘Tangled Up in Ore: Bob Dylan and the Iron Range’

    ‘Tangled Up in Ore: Bob Dylan and the Iron Range’

    Dylan Days starts today. There’s plenty going on in Hibbing these next four days, but I’d like to point out the special Bob Dylan exhibit that opens today at Ironworld in nearby Chisholm. As Dylan Days co-chair, I played a role in the early stages of this project. But the hard work and vision came…

  • More Dylan Days press, including my large head on a webcam

    More Dylan Days press, including my large head on a webcam

    This morning’s Dylan Days interview on the top-rated 95 KQDS morning show out of Duluth (and repeated on the Iron Range at 105.5 FM) was rescheduled for Wednesday at 8:35 a.m. I will take the Dylan Days act to 91.7 KAXE in northern Minnesota (streaming online here) and KOOL 101.7 FM in Duluth Tuesday morning…

  • Taking requests: Bob Dylan Fudge Bars

    Taking requests: Bob Dylan Fudge Bars

    Over the next few days I’ll be responding to questions or requests that I’ve been getting via e-mail. The next few days will include idle speculation on local retail developments and the Minnesota Steel project. Today I’ll clear out an old request, the posting of the recipe for the Bob Dylan Fudge Bars that I…

  • Dylan Days stokes literary flames on the Iron Range

    Dylan Days stokes literary flames on the Iron Range

    As some of you know, I am one of the organizers of Dylan Days, an annual event celebrating Hibbing’s own Bob Dylan and the arts community of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. This week we’re releasing the results of the Dylan Days Creative Writing Contest. The contest takes on even deeper meaning this year in the…

  • Iron Ranger wins Pulitzer Prize

    OK, so he hasn’t considered himself an Iron Ranger for a long time (if he ever really did) but Bob Dylan won a special Pulitzer Prize today “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” What better way to celebrate Dylan’s Pulitzer than by making…

  • The future of small town media in 1,000 words

    The future of small town media in 1,000 words

    A really interesting comment about local newspaper websites crossed the blog yesterday morning. As you may know, the ACM family of newspapers on the Iron Range now require readers to sign up for a free account to use its newspapers’ websites. A MinnesotaBrown blog reader responded to the change in this way: What the hell…

  • The "Coleman Letters" controversy

    The "Coleman Letters" controversy

    By now, you may have read the news about Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign distributing mass letters to the editor for supporters to submit to papers around Minnesota. (MPR, MNPublius, AP). The letters were criticizing Coleman opponent Al Franken, the leading Democrat. While encouraging supporters to write letters to the editor is common practice, the concept…

  • Dylan Days wins grant for Iron Range Bob Dylan exhibit

    Dylan Days wins grant for Iron Range Bob Dylan exhibit

    One of my pet projects is Dylan Days, an annual arts event in Hibbing run by an initiative called “Dylan Arts Celebration,” which I co-chair. Kelly Grinsteinner of the Hibbing Daily Tribune reported Sunday about our recent $10,000 grant from Iron Range Resources’ Culture and Tourism program to create exhibit material for an upcoming Bob…

  • Gen. Butt Naked to face justice

    Gen. Butt Naked to face justice

    Check out this AP headline from the Star Tribune: Gen. Butt Naked, Liberian ex-rebel leader, confesses to killing thousands I thought maybe it was a deal where an after-hours copy editor slipped a goof into the paper, but this is actually real. By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH, Associated Press AMMONROVIA, Liberia – One of Liberia’s most notorious…

  • New look at Ironworld

    For those interested, Ironworld is going through some changes this year. Check out the Hibbing Daily Tribune story. Dylan Days — one of my many side projects — is working with Ironworld to put together a Dylan exhibit next May. Stay tuned for this and potentially even more exciting news. Related posts: No related posts.

  • Dylan Days preview

    Dylan Days preview

    I posted about Dylan Days earlier this morning so I figured I’d announce the preliminary plan for Dylan Days 2008. There’s more coming, including the announcement of musical acts and the specific schedule. Work is in full swing. Dylan Days is an annual event honoring Hibbing’s famous son Bob Dylan and the arts community of…

  • Tangled up in puns

    Tangled up in puns

    I’ve been involved with Dylan Days in Hibbing since 2001. One of the interesting things about Bob Dylan’s effect on the American psyche is how newspaper writers don’t really need a good reason to write about the things he does or says. Hence today’s DNT editorial. I am just about done hearing the phrase “Tangled…

  • Those punks

    Those punks

    During college, when other people were “hooking up” and “having fun,” I was editing my college newspaper. I like to tell myself this was a personal choice. Anyway, I just saw last week that my alma mater’s newspaper, the UW-Superior “Promethean” has changed its name to “The Stinger” this year. The Promethean drew its name…

  • MinnesotaBrown also does real things sometimes

    MinnesotaBrown also does real things sometimes

    Meet the Author This blog doesn’t pay the bills. What it does, however, is allow me to build support for my professional work as a teacher, writer, speaker and radio producer. I deliver keynote speeches, lectures and specialized presentations related to topics like the Iron Range, Minnesota politics and history, writing, blogging and the media.…