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Great Northern Radio Show preview: Mary Bue
It’s coming! The spring edition of my Great Northern Radio Show hits the stage of the Bagley High School auditorium and airwaves of Northern Community Radio this upcoming Saturday, March 9. The show airs from 5-7 p.m. and free tickets are still available by calling KAXE at 800-662-5799. Find out more about the show and…
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Motorist delivers self into Range furniture store
Last May, a motorist plowed their car into a greeting card shop in downtown Virginia, Minnesota, producing this sarcastic offering from yours truly. (example: “I spent hours trying to pick the best car but ended up just sending this one.”) Well, it’s starting even earlier this year, as this morning a motorist ran into the…
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Ness ‘drops’ State of City video at hipster hot spot
As we’ve already discussed, Duluth Mayor Don Ness delivered his annual State of the City address via video this year. The film was released last night and you can see it here: Ness wanted to discuss the impact of last year’s floods and used video tools to explore the devastation and recovery. The State of…
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Mining for economic answers, digging up riddles
We know from experience that mining is a boom and bust industry. Why, even the speculative future of mining is boom and bust! It all depends on who you talk to. Here, MPR’s Dan Kraker explores the dynamic of potential new mining near the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. You can (and should) listen to the…
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Great Northern Radio Show preview: Hobo Nephews
It’s coming! The spring edition of my Great Northern Radio Show hits the stage of the Bagley High School auditorium and airwaves of Northern Community Radio this upcoming Saturday, March 9. The show airs from 5-7 p.m. and free tickets are still available by calling KAXE at 800-662-5799. Find out more about the show and…
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Green thumbs sought to reinvigorate Range farmstead
Here’s an interesting item I received from Beth Pierce at Iron Range Tourism: Biwabik landowner wants to put farm into production Shawn Callahan is looking for a few good farmers. Callahan, who owns and operates Green Gate Guest House, a sustainably built guest cottage near Biwabik, is hoping to put new life into his historic farmstead. “I’m reaching…
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It’s the Minnesota spring that gets you, not winter
This is my Sunday column for the March 3, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. It’s the Minnesota spring that gets you, not winterBy Aaron J. Brown It’s March. I think all the snowbirds are gone by now. So let’s speak freely, shall we? I don’t mind that people head south for the winter.…
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The sounds of Sparta
On the topic of Minnesota musicians with ties to the Great Northern Radio Show, check out this marvelous Andrea Swensson “The Current” profile of Sparta Sound, where Rich Mattson and friends have crafted a respected recording studio used by many in the growing Minnesota music scene. From the story: Sparta may feel remote, but it’s…
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Range town thinks spring with ‘Green Envy’
For those longing for spring in this land where spring eludes us well into late April, how about this Iron Range shindig? This Saturday, March 2, an event called “Green Envy” will be held from 4-7 p.m. at the Olcott Park Greenhouse in Virginia, Minnesota. The tagline: “Be the envy of all your friends, get…
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Still time to enter poems, stories in Dylan Days contest
As a shiftless blogger with dreams of an illustrious writing career I know that you, a shiftless blog reader, probably pine for the same. How about you try a contest that I help run for Dylan Days in Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota? The B.J. Rolfzen Memorial Creative Writing Contest is named for Dylan’s…
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Freshman MN state rep seeks 1st grade class presidency
Here’s something adorable and yet just uncomfortable enough to qualify as funny. State Rep. Joe Radinovich (DFL-Crosby), newly elected from Minnesota’s Cuyuna Iron Range and Aitkin County, recently spoke to a McGregor first grade class. After receiving letters from the students after the visit, he recorded this video in which he announces his candidacy for…
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Lyric Center celebrates ‘Range of the Arts’
Every year the Lyric Center for the Arts in Virgina, MN, hosts the “Range of the Arts” festival, a multi-day collection of workshops and gallery exhibits. Range of the Arts 2013 begins today. New this year is tomorrow night’s 6:30 p.m. live variety show at The Loft at 516 1/2 Chestnut Street. The event will…
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By water and land; perils of a man-made landscape
Two big stories this past have shown that the mines and mining in general still hold a lot of sway over northern Minnesota, particularly when it comes to public infrastructure. First, Cliffs Natural Resources rejected the most popular proposal to re-route the vital Range artery of Highway 53. The Minnesota DOT had proposed building the…
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The cancer of low expecations
Timothy Collins pens this essay for The Daily Yonder about the specter of low expectations found in rural high schools. While it is mostly a persuasion piece, with a flare for the dramatic, part of its effectiveness might be found in that those of us who know rural schools might feel some of the pressure…
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A casual defense of the ‘Harlem Shake’
Last month, when Duluth Mayor Don Ness official killed the Gangnam Style meme, northern Minnesota’s response to a national trend came nearly a full year after its emergence. But one cannot help but notice that Gangnam’s successor, the Harlem Shake, has not only emerged, but peaked, filtered to the small markets and died out at…