First Avenue, which owns and operates the Depot Tavern next to its Minneapolis music venue, has a new eatery planned next door to the newly-renovated Palace Theatre in downtown St. Paul. GoMN now reports that First Avenue will be taking over the lease for Wild Tymes on Nov. 29, and will renovate the bar and restaurant…

Last night, Brother Ali’s The Own Light Tour came to a memorable end at First Avenue. The show came roughly 17 years after Ali first performed in the Mainroom, back in 2000, when he opened for labelmates Atmosphere. The newest addition to the Rhymesayers roster, Sa-Roc, joined Brother Ali for the whole tour. She started…

Maple & Beech, “Downtwaa/Uptwaa” . Maple & Beech just keep doing their thing. I’ve grown to expect shimmering, unafraid art from their music and videos, and they deliver every time. Band members Tyler Tholl and Pete James Johnson are where weird meets cool, and Tyler’s brother Justin Tholl joined the fray this time to create…

On Tuesday, Minneapolis band Black Diet announced a reunion holiday show at Icehouse on Dec. 15. Joining Black Diet on the bill are two fellow funk-infused local bands, PHO and Ayvah. Black Diet formed in 2011, when the members met through Craigslist and Facebook postings. They kept themselves busy gigging around the Twin Cities and…

The Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival will be back in 2018, on July 6 and 7. The announcement came today via a typically elliptical rollout…actually, it was a literal rollout, as the festival live-streamed video of workers pasting posters into place on a street in Eau Claire. (The posters are around the corner from…

It turns out that the Science Museum isn’t the only Minnesota connection to the latest season of Stranger Things. A song from the Minneapolis new wave band Swing Set, “Blackout,” is featured in the second episode of season two, “Trick or Treat, Freak,” and can be heard playing over the car stereo of Charlie Heaton’s…

The Avant Garde, a local promoter, has won a $10,000 Artist Initiative grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) to help put on a concert series that will focus on artists of color in the Twin Cities. Starting on Nov. 18, the concerts will each feature a different set of R&B and neo-soul artists whose…

What’s sure to be one of the biggest local concerts of 2018 has just been announced: Taylor Swift will play U.S. Bank Stadium on Sept. 1. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Dec. 13 — that would be Swift’s 28th birthday — but “verified fans” may be able to snag tickets earlier.…

In April of 2016 Nye’s Polonaise room closed its doors after 67 years in business. Next month Nye’s will be back, as Nye’s Piano Bar. Brothers Rob and Tony Jacob, the owners of Nye’s, have announced that they’re opening a new establishment with the Nye’s name in the Montage apartment building — a new development…

 Dizzy Fae, “Don’t Hate For Me” Well, this is fantastic. Dizzy Fae‘s new video also serves as a heartening peek at the next stage of her career. It’s the only song listed on her Spotify profile, which signals commitment to this alternative-pop direction; a taste of her upcoming mixtape, which is due out in January;…