Despite having grown up in Minnesota, I only started going to the State Fair three years ago. The Fair is full of music — but it can be hard to even get Minnesotans to clap along to a song, much less get up and dance. When it came to Tropical Zone Orchestra’s performance on Friday,…

The Miracle of Birth center is easily one of my favorite parts of the fair; baby animals are irresistibly cute. This year as I was visiting the barn for the second time I noticed that nearly all of the babies had little name plaques on their pens. Many of the babies had been given names that…

This year, the State Fair debuted a new venue on the north end: the Hangar. The building, which used to be the Pet Center, has been transformed into a hub for food, craft beer, and live entertainment. The Hangar also nods to the building’s history as the location of the State Fair Aircraft Shows in…

“How the hell can a person go to work in the morning and come home in the evening and have nothing to say?” That’s singer/songwriter John Prine. Well, that’s Mike Lewis quoting Prine’s song “Angel From Montgomery” while sitting next to me at a countertop. We’re nearing the end of an hour-long conversation, and I’ve…

For Gipson Shoemaker, owner of Lucky Devil Cigar Box Guitars, his passion for cigar-box guitars all started with seeing Jack White in the 2008 documentary, It Might Get Loud. In that film, White built a diddley bow — an instrument similar to the cigar-box guitar. When Shoemaker first saw the diddley bow, he became curious…

“How the hell can a person go to work in the morning and come home in the evening and have nothing to say?” That’s singer/songwriter John Prine. Well, that’s Mike Lewis quoting Prine’s song “Angel From Montgomery” while sitting next to me at a countertop. We’re nearing the end of an hour-long conversation, and I’ve…

Labor Day weekend snuck up on a lot of us much faster than we would have liked it to, but especially so for the folks in Juniper Douglas, a local band/creative project, who have for the past year been diligently planning a three-day music festival to take place this coming weekend. As part of a…

Frebella Fest is a music festival with a meaningful focus. Formed from what was originally a camping trip to celebrate the lives of lost friends (including one to an eating disorder), the creators of Frebella have morphed their annual camping trip into an all-inclusive festival wherein all of the proceeds go towards the Emily Program…

CHARISMA! That’s what’s coming to the Southern Theater this Sept. 20-23, presented by Minneapolis indie-rockers Greycoats. Known in the past for their melodramatic music and spectacularly out-of-the-box album releases that have included film pairings, art exhibitions, and a MIDI-controlled spaceship, Greycoats are taking CHARISMA to the next level in that its release will be part…

The Current’s Music on a Stick concert at the State Fair this year had a stacked lineup for those who are into bluegrass and romantic indie rock. Lissie opened the night, followed by Lord Huron and local favorites Trampled By Turtles. As the golden hour washed over those of us corralled in the Grandstand, Lissie took…