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Bemidjigamaag Powwow is Saturday
When the first-ever Bemidjimagaag Powwow was held last year at the Sandford Center arena in Bemidji, Minnesota, something powerful took place. In a community marked by past tensions between natives and whites, people from the three Ojibwe bands that border the city and those of non-native ancestry joined together for a shared powwow. Following up…
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Thomas X empowers with new rap on native issues
Red Lake rapper Thomas X is out with a new single and a powerful new video combining his unique hip-hop sound with the traditions of Northern Minnesota’s Annishinabe people. Here’s Rezolution, the latest single from Thomas X: Thomas X was a guest on last year’s Bemidji edition of my Great Northern Radio Show after his previous album “Have a Good…
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Leech Lake elects new chair; LaDuke falls short at White Earth
After announcing the funding for the new Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School near Cass Lake on Election Day, Leech Lake Tribal Chairwoman Carri Jones was nevertheless defeated by challenger Faron Jackson, Sr. KOJB reports that Jackson won with about 53 percent of the vote t0 Jones’ approximately 31 percent. Five other candidates combined for the remaining support. Jones…
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Feds finally fund new Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School
Many media outlets reported Tuesday that the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School near Cass Lake will finally get a new building thanks to $11.9 million in federal funding. Operated by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwa, the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School is housed in what was once a bus garage. In recent years it has fallen into serious disrepair. As…
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Thunderbirds vs. Lumberjacks, mythical feud
Tonight at 8 p.m., the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks will play the Bemidji Lumberjacks in the Minnesota Class AA State Hockey Tournament in St. Paul. Hockey is a big deal in Minnesota. It’s a cherished winter tradition and the source of a historic rivalry between the Northern and Southern portions of the state. (Or perhaps more…
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Hear the Bemidji State edition of Great Northern Radio Show
LISTEN NOW to the Bemidji State show. This Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. you can hear the rebroadcast of last Saturday’s Great Northern Radio Show, which aired live Sept. 19 from the Bangsberg Theater at Bemidji State University. This was one of our more successful shows. The musical lineup featured American Scarecrows, Corey Medina…
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Great Northern Radio Show: Adding value to Northern MN
Like many local mines, Iron Range-based MinnesotaBrown.com will be entering a partial slowdown, or “hot idle” while we work out a little problem with the media commodities market. See, the price of a MinnesotaBrown blog post is down to a historically low $1.45 per long ton, due in part to limited demand and illegal imports…
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What’s ahead for the Great Northern Radio Show
Since October 2011 I’ve produced, written and hosted a radio variety program called the Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio based in Grand Rapids and Bemidji, Minnesota. We’ve been fortunate enough to air on independent public stations around the state and even on the cable access channel in the Northeast suburbs of the Twin…
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Warm greetings from Minnesota’s northern hellscape
All through yesterday friends and neighbors collectively set ablaze my social media feed with a link to an article entitled “These Are the 10 Worst Places to Live in Minnesota,” posted on a website called RoadSnacks.net. To save you the suspense, Nick James of RoadSnacks.net lists the worst cities are as follows: Cambridge Brainerd Grand…
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Rez comedians heal, hearten with laughs
“When people hear the words ‘Indian Reservation,’ they think of alcoholism, drugs, addiction, abuse and suicide,” levels Jon Roberts, a comedian from Red Lake. “We want to send a message that those shouldn’t be the only words you think of when you see us. Laughter is what brings communities together. That is the reason we…
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The woods and us
I smile to see the midnight fireflies from my darkened bedroom in the woods. The fireflies of my youth in the Sax-Zim Bog twinkled like stars. We see fewer today, but still enough to inspire wonder. Suddenly my smile drained away. What if my boys remember a few fireflies when there are none? We read…
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Chief Bemidji statue to be dedicated June 6
For many, the history of Northern Minnesota is wrapped up in the fictional story of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, adorable figures found on display in towns like Brainerd or Bemidji. But in Bemidji, a remarkable cultural reclamation is taking place. A statue of the Ojibwa leader Shaynowishkung, often known as Chief Bemidji, the…
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KAXE/KBXE music event will spin you right round in Bemidji
This Saturday in Bemidji, Northern Community Radio will host its first-ever vinyl and CD music sale fundraiser in honor of National Record Store Day. This independent northern Minnesota public radio organization has been collecting donated LPs and CDs for the past month to sell as part of this live music event Brigid’s Pub in downtown Bemidji starting noon…
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Saturday’s Bemijigamaag Powwow in Bemidji welcomes all
The city of Bemidji, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwa, Red Lake Band of Ojibwa and White Earth Ojibwa Nation, along with Northern Community Radio, KOJB-The Eagle and a host of sponsors, will join to host the Bemijigamaag Powwow this Saturday, April 4, at Bemidji’s Sanford Center. The event is free and open to all.…
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Poetry in motion: KAXE/KBXE to host third annual Beat Cafe
Every weekday morning, my local public radio station shares a poem recorded by a Minnesota poet in a program called “The Beat.” I must admit, I run hot and cold on these poetry segments. I’ve heard poems that have shook me to my core, but most poems bother me. They irritate. Aggravate. Infuriate. Provoke scorn…