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Great Northern Radio Show is your holiday soundtrack
Aerial view of the stage as Earl the Cowboy saves Christmas in Bigfork Another edition of the Great Northern Radio Show hit the airwaves last Saturday, broadcast live from the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork. This one was titled “Christmas on Edge” and strove to combine the trappings of a holiday special with…
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The funniest Christmas song you will hear
Yes, this is a bit recorded for a yuck-yuck commercial radio morning show. It makes me laugh every single time I’ve heard it for however many years now. Porky Pig reprises “Blue Christmas.” Related posts: No related posts.
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Claymation Christmas, Part 4: Carol of the Bells
I conclude my series of posts about the 1987 Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration special with my favorite segment in the program: “The Carol of the Bells.” The humor in “Carol of the Bells” is the Claymation Christmas special’s tightest and most sophisticated, to the extent that it almost seems designed to lead children in…
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Christmas miracle: Bentleyville agrees to remain in Duluth
In breaking news, Duluth, Minn., Mayor Don Ness just announced via Facebook that the city has reached a three year agreement with Bentleyville to keep the holiday attraction in Bayfront Park for the next three years. Founder Nathan Bentley had reportedly been considering other options, including ending Bentleyville, because of fatigue over the massive project…
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Claymation Christmas, Part 3: Walruses and Penguins
Now we move on through Will Vinton’s 1987 “Claymation Christmas Celebration” to a significant moment in the Emmy Award-winning stop-motion animation special, the Walruses and the Penguins. This is the most blatant comic relief in the half-hour Claymation Christmas special, relying heavily on the physical comedy of amorous walruses attempting to figure skate to “Angels…
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Claymation Christmas, Part 2: We Three Kings (and three singing camels)
As I continue through Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration special of 1987, we now go to the Claymation Christmas special’s first musical animation, the opening salvo in this barrage of holiday-themed stop motion videos. “We Three Kings” opens with the somber version of the song, sung by the actual kings, you might expect. But then…
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Land auction may scuttle beleaguered Range project
UPDATE: The land in question was sold at auction today … to Excelsior Energy! Some thoughts below. The hard luck story of Excelsior Energy’s failed Mesaba Energy Project reaches a new milestone today as a land auction could deprive the proto-company of the site it named for its proposed power plant. The company had initially…
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Claymation Christmas, Part 1: California Raisins
It’s sometimes odd the things from your childhood that endure in memory. I’ve lost the sound of my uncle’s voice, for instance, but I remember Will Vinton’s Emmy-winning Claymation Christmas Celebration special which first aired on CBS in December of 1987. A later VHS recording of this broadcast would become a precious family possession for…
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The ‘Pussyfoot’ behind Prohibition in northern MN
Students of Iron Range history might have heard the name William E. “Pussyfoot” Johnson. In addition to holding a fantastically literary name, Johnson holds significance in northern Minnesota history. After all, he was the man who famously brought prohibition to the Iron Range, a place that vehemently, violently didn’t want it. The Hibbing Tribune editorial…
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Tom Russell’s "Mesabi" cuts like sharp wind on the Iron Range
Texas-based singer/songwriter Tom Russell named his recent 2011 album “Mesabi.” It includes the title track below, which seems to call on the mystique of Bob Dylan, the North Country and the Iron Range. Sings Russell: Some things never change, on the Mesabi Iron RangeWhere the wild north country rain screams“Please don’t make me do the…
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‘Inwardly, we are being renewed’
There is no denying the dark pallor hanging over every corner of the United States after last Friday’s devastating tragedy. President Obama spoke Sunday at a memorial service for the teachers and students lost in Newtown. I share his remarkable speech here: I also share this piece, “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother,” by Liza Long,…
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COLUMN: The gift of skills
This is my Sunday column for the Dec. 16, 2012 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. A version of this piece aired Dec. 8 on Northern Community Radio’s “Between You and Me.” The gift of skills By Aaron J. Brown Life in northern Minnesota isn’t easy. You have to identify trees, drive through snow and…
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Great Northern Radio Show hits the airwaves tonight
Today brings the Great Northern Radio Show holiday special, broadcast live on Northern Community Radio from the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork, Minnesota. The show runs from 5-7 p.m. The free tickets to the theater are reserved, but there are usually unclaimed tickets at the door if you would like to see it…
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Finally, a snow shovel with old look, new pointlessness
They say it will snow this weekend in northern Minnesota. I saw this floating around social media as sort of a local joke, but it is a real product: Behold the “Snow Wolf” wheeled shovel in action. It’s an ergonomic dream, they say. A snowblower without the dirty engine attached, they say. I see a…
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The promise and perils of attracting film projects to MN
There’s been a renewed push lately to attract film projects to northern Minnesota. Yesterday, the IRRRB approved an $800,000 incentive to attract movie projects to the Iron Range. News that the Minnesota Film Board was working with a production company for a 2013 movie made for headlines recently as well. Of course, the region had…