José James has traveled the world touring his music, recently performing a project called Gershwin Reimagined with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia. His success has earned him worldwide recognition, but he has a soft spot for his original home state of Minnesota. “I’m literally halfway across the world talking to you, but I really…

While writing her second full-length album, Silences, Adia Victoria spent time in the stacks of the Vanderbilt University library, poring over the works of women she admires — from Toni Morrison to Virginia Woolf to Tillie Olsen, whose 1978 novel inspired the album’s title. “I consider myself a writer first and foremost, and I don’t…

Tim Dooley, frontman for the band Timisarocker, hasn’t stopped moving since his first Black Rock Matters show brought the band into the spotlight in February. Being a rocker, a drag queen, a podcast host, an ordained minister, and recently becoming a standup comedian, Timisarocker has been busy to say the least. And now that Pride…

Red Lake Nation Students – “Stand Proud” Seventh-graders at Minnesota’s Red Lake Middle School promote truth, respect, and courage in “Stand Proud.” The Anishinaabe students yell “skoden,” a Native slang term derived from the phrase, “Let’s go, then.” Lena Elizabeth – “Nobody Wants You” Femmes deal with unwanted attention at the 331 Club in Lena…

On Wednesday the McKnight Foundation announced the 2019 recipients of the McKnight Composers Fellowships, which awards mid-career Minnesota composers in a wide variety of genres unrestricted cash awards to advance their artistic practices. Among this year’s winners is producer/performer/composer Stefon Bionik Taylor, AKA Bionik, who has worked with local hip-hop artists and producers Lizzo, Manchita,…

At the age of 17, Billie Eilish drew a devoted sold-out crowd to the 8,400-capacity Armory in Minneapolis on Saturday night. Eilish released her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? on March 29. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Eilish brought her signature visuals —…

If you missed catching a glimpse of Sean Tillman performing as Calvin Krime on Wednesday night at the Turf Club, hopefully you were lucky enough to see him last night at his first-ever performance with his full Har Mar Superstar band in his hometown of Owatonna. As the second stop on his 2019 tour that…

Happy summer, all! I moved last weekend (from St. Paul to Minneapolis — but don’t think I won’t miss the “boring” city) and am still trying to sort through the cardboard chaos. But you and I can both count on the routine of the Local Current Blog Friday Five. Here are a handful of videos…

U.S. Girls played a show at the Turf Club last night along with co-headliner Sweet Spirit and special guest Calvin Krime. Throughout the hour-long set, U.S. Girls’ Meg Remy rarely paused between songs. In fact, I’m not sure the full band ever quit playing, and only barely slowed during interludes while Remy and others continued…

60 years ago today, Bob Dylan (known to the town then and now as Bob Zimmerman) graduated from Hibbing High School before briefly attending the University of Minnesota, then rocketing on. Dylan was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth and lived in Hibbing from the age of six onward. At 186 square miles, Hibbing…