While Cory Wong’s name may not be as synonymous with Twin Cities rock stardom as are the names gracing the stars of First Avenue, there is a chance he has worked behind the scenes on some of your favorite albums and TV shows, and maybe even helped out with that generic holiday CD you bought…

Update 1/29: TMZ is reporting that Prince has withdrawn this lawsuit—though “without prejudice,” meaning that he reserves the right to re-file the suit if and when he feels like it. “Because of the recent pressure,” Prince’s attorney told TMZ, “the bootleggers have now taken down the illegal downloads and are no longer engaging in piracy.” Meanwhile, Prince went ahead…

It’s shaping up to be a busy spring for bluegrass band Pert Near Sandstone, who stopped by the Current’s Morning Show today to chat about a couple of significant events coming this April: the release of their new album, The Hardest Part of Leaving, and a show at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul as…

You know it’s a good party when one of the biggest stars from the first night comes back to perform an encore at the second. After delivering a show-stopping set on Friday, Lizzo returned at the end of headliner Caroline Smith’s performance to steal the spotlight once again—and it was just as much a testament…

In what has now become an annual tradition, the First Avenue Mainroom filled to the brim last night with giddy listeners and members of the Current for the first of two back-to-back birthday parties. Adding to the festivities this year was the fact that the first night of birthday parties took place on the station’s…

It’s been an especially busy week for Lizzo, who celebrated the end to a successful 2013 and popped the cork on the New Year by having a song placed on the popular HBO show Girls, flying to London to perform at BBC 1’s Future Fest, and reconnecting with producer Ryan Olson and beatmaker Lazerbeak to…

It was exactly nine years ago this morning that the Current first went on air and introduced itself to the Twin Cities with the help of Atmosphere’s Minnesota-centric “Say Shh.” The song, which was tacked on as a hidden track at the end of the Rhymesayers’ duo’s 2003 album, Seven’s Travels, had already become somewhat of…

Jon Schober – Go East Young Man!   For the past three years, the Current has been fortunate to have Jon Schober be part of the team. Jon is a native Texan, who arrived in Minnesota in 2008 to go to the U and work at Radio K, and joined the Current in 2010 as an…

Thursday, January 23 Low Fitger’s Brewhouse, Duluth 10 p.m., free, 21+ We’ve arrived at week two in Low’s quest to perform every song from their discography over the course of seven weeks in the intimate confines of Duluth’s Fitger’s Brewhouse. Each week the band draws new songs out of a hat and puts together a…

There’s no doubt about it: ska has an image problem. Nationally, its popularity has declined so much since the third-wave explosion of the late 90s that for many, it seems goofy stereotypes are all that’s left. For anyone attending a ska show at the 331 Club in early January, though, it would have been hard…