MUSIC REVIEW | Drone not Drones: 28 hours and 28 tones of drone

By |

Over the weekend the Cedar Cultural Center gave itself over to 28 hours of drone for the annual Drone not Drones concert. The event is a fundraiser for Doctors without Border and according to the website they raised thousands of dollars. Thanks to KFAI there was a livesteamof the event – for whose who’d rather cozy up in the comfort of their own home. The archive is available on Bandcampwith proceeds going to Doctors without Borders.I was not able to give myself over for 28 hours (you know, having kids that require managing and all) but I was there for longer than originally intended. At times there may have been a couple hundred of people in the room and in the wee hours of the month that slipped to a dozen or two. Continue Reading

MUSIC PHOTOS | Extreme at Mill City Nights

By |

Any mention of the hard rock band Extreme and most people immediately identify them by their early 90s Billboard #1 hit “More Than Words.” Ask any of the true fans of this band who joined forces January 29th at Mill City Nights for the Pornograffitti Live – 25th Anniversary Tour and they’ll be sure to let you know there’s so much more to their catalog of material.It’s a real treat when a band celebrates a significant recording project by performing the whole album live front to back. Not only do you get a chance to hear some tracks that never make the typical set-list, but you also get to hear them in the actual intended order and flow of the album. This is one of those albums that fans listen to enough that they are anticipating the next song, which doesn’t normally happen live.A special show like this required no opening act, so the set started out as expected with the album’s first song “Decadence Dance.” This track is such a rocker and really brought the crowd to life. Front man Gary Cherone worked the stage like a man possessed and seemed genuinely enthusiastic about performing the material. The full metal assault continued for the next three tunes “Li’l Jack Horny,” “When I’m President” and hit single “Get the Funk Out.” The songs all seemed to run long giving their MVP, guitarist extraordinaire Nuno Bettoncourt plenty of room to shred. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | The Current showcases mostly local music: Cold War Kids, Dead Man Winter, Hippo Campus and Allan Kingdom

By |

The Current celebrates their birthday in style but more importantly with great variety. The penultimate birthday event on Jan. 23 night at First Avenue included four bands with four different sounds: rap, pop, Americana and indie rock. And if you dig deeper at all, there were really more sounds within each performance.Cold War Kids are pegged as indie rock—but shave lead singer Nathan Willett’s head (or grow his hair long) and I think you’d see Henry Rollins on stage. The music isn’t as hard as Black Flag but Willett is as energetic; he plays and sings hard – as do the rest of the members. Continue Reading

This Week in Saint Paul: Monday, January 19 – Sunday, January 25, 2015

By |

Even though the Saint Paul Winter Carnival is creeping up on us, our atmosphere is making its march toward spring. How is this? The calendar still says “January.” I think it may be because the Almanac arts and culture calendar is sharing something else. It’s warming us up. All those hands clapping seems a plausible enough explanation, as opposed to the scientific explanations that get in the way of important things like…well, getting elected to office and gratuitous pollution. Continue Reading

MUSIC PHOTOS | The Current’s 10th Anniversary featuring Billy Idol and Steve Stevens at the Turf Club

By |

It was great to see people packing into the sold out Turf Club in St. Paul January 19th to support and celebrate the 10th Anniversary of 89.3 The Current. It’s establishments like this that keep the Twin Cities known for being rich in the arts. The event titled Mary Lucia’s Rock and Roll Radio show created a little extra buzz as they were able to arrange for 80s rocker Billy Idol who is out on tour to swing by and squeeze in a 6 song acoustic set. Idol was packed full of charisma and his strong vocal only needed his longtime guitar master Steve Steven’s to do the music justice. Continue Reading

THEATER PREVIEW | Minnesota Opera adds a potent kick in “The Elixir of Love”

By |

There’s something tasty brewing in Minneapolis’s North Loop neighborhood. No, it’s not another microbrewery or microdistillery to push the Twin Cities another rung up in the nationwide city-versus-city ranking du jour. This beverage is a love potion with a potent kick, a quack doctor, and those old bedfellows of alcohol: liquid courage and unrequited love. Throw in some questionable life decisions and a few of the most beautiful pieces of classical vocal music ever written and the stage is set for a grand comedic romp in The Elixir of Love, Minnesota Opera’s first mainstage work in 2015.This article kicks off the Daily Planet’s Opera Week coverage, a series of articles about opera in Minnesota leading up to the opening night of The Elixir of Love on Jan. 24. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | “Sesame Street Live: Let’s Dance!” gets warm and fuzzy at the State Theatre

By |

State Theatre in Minneapolis brought the childhood favorite neighborhood, 123 Sesame Street, to their venue last weekend for seven shows.Those in attendance were in for a treat as they sang and danced along with the locals of Sesame Street as the musical featured the crowd favorite characters Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, Bert and many more.VEE Corporation’s Sesame Street Live: Let’s Dance! opened their weekend performance on Friday, Jan. 16. The show was hosted by two live performers. The show’s unique interactive performance got the crowd out of their seat and brought a smile out of the children as the characters roamed around the audience during the dance parties. Cookie Monster even posed for a photo and gave one little girl a hug.The dynamic and hip hosts Jordan (played by Rasheem Ford) and Riley (played by Kayleigh Shuler) introduced the audience to the locals on Sesame Street and taught the audience new dance moves and had them sing along to their hip-hop tinged covers to songs like “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.”Along with their fresh dance moves they had Elmo present his favorite moves. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Keeping kids rocking with Bunny Clogs and Guitar Party at the Cedar

By |

Saturday the morning the Cedar Cultural Center was hopping and toddling with Bunny Clogs and Guitar Party – two bands for kids with members who are well known to a Twin Cities audience.Bunny Clogs is a family project for Adam Levy, also of the Honeydogs. The band includes his daughters Ava (13) and Esther (16) singing and nephew Isaac Levy (11) playing a mean guitar. As well as a lot of good humored and talented adult musicians. The music is part pop, part blues and includes a little rap. It’s a nice blend that will grow on kids and their grownups. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Generations of Punk celebrate The Current: Suicide Commandos, Craig Finn and L’Assassins

By |

Generations of Minnesota garage punk were on stage and in the audience Friday night for The Current’s ten-year birthday party. Craig Finn put a frame on that fact when he talked taking guitar lessons as a kid from Chris Osgood of the Suicide Commandos. “I learned how to be cool,” he explained, by watching Osgood turn up the stereo before he answered the phone instructing Finn “you want people to think you’re having a party.”The Suicide Commandos rocked. It was old school punk – short, loud crashing songs, limited chatter. They started with You Can’t, included Complicated Fun and threw in a lot of surprising covers. Continue Reading