Somewhere around 1990, when I was a teenager, I picked up a used copy of Bruce Springsteen’s classic five-LP set Live/1975-85. I knew the Born in the U.S.A. hits, and I was ready to take a deeper dive into the Boss’s oeuvre. I put on side one track one (“Thunder Road”), turned off the lights in my bedroom,…

“Hey man,” Steve Brantseg remembers saying to Curtiss A in the mid-1980s. “I know all those Beatles songs. If you’ve got space for another guitar player, I’d love to do it.” Three and a half decades later, and 40 years since Curtiss A’s spontaneous original tribute concert on the day John Lennon died, Brantseg (also…

Bob Dylan, the boy born in Duluth who went on to create what the New York Times calls “one of the music world’s ultimate jewels” and the Associated Press calls “rock ‘n’ roll’s holy grail” has sold that jewel, that grail, for an estimated $300 million. In what the music world is calling a “blockbuster…

Leah Ottman, a Minneapolis musician who performed under the name LOTT, passed away at the age of 33 on Wednesday. Her cause of death has not been made public. LOTT debuted as a solo artist in 2014, releasing the single “Parking On The Grass” via Homestead Records. LOTT Music · Parking On The Grass In…

Right now we’re all making our best-of-2020 playlists and checking them twice (have you cast your votes in The Current’s Top 89 poll yet?). Do you ever go back and actually listen to the best-of playlists you made in prior years? Every time I do, I’m reminded of some amazing Minnesota songs from those years.…

December is a time of reflection and celebration for people of many different backgrounds and traditions. For some, that means religious holidays like Hanukkah or Christmas. For others, it’s cultural celebrations like Kwanzaa. Some look to the winter solstice as a time of renewal, and everyone flips the calendar page on January 1. I’m going…

After spending a decade bartending at You Otter Stop Inn in Northeast Minneapolis, Ryan Fuchs suddenly found himself with time on his hands. A lot of time. While many of his past patrons dreamed of the day when they could sing sweaty karaoke again, Fuchs — a lifelong Lego enthusiast — decided to recreate the Otter…

Every other Friday, we highlight new Minnesota music videos on our Local Current blog. If you have a music video you’d like to be considered for an upcoming feature, send it my way! fridayfive [at] mpr.org. Dua Saleh – “angel rock” 2020 has been a big year for Dua Saleh. From releasing their remarkable EP, Rosetta, to…

Everybody loves a good pop-up, and with the retail and restaurant industries (not to mention the music industry) profoundly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, innovation and flexibility is especially important this holiday season. Two new pop-up experiences are giving Twin Cities music and pop-culture fans a chance to get a little closer to a couple…

The 2021 Grammy nominations are out and…did someone say LOCAL ANGLE? We’re on it. The biggest local connection in this year’s nominations is probably Taylor Swift’s quarantine album folklore, created with The National’s Aaron Dessner…who has tight ties to the Eau Claire scene, which is right across the border from the greatest state in the union.…