Now that we’ve gotten to that time of year when every single new show that’s booked seems to be happening outdoors (case in point: this week’s big gig announcements werethe Replacements show at Midway Stadium and Trampled by Turtles and Doomtree at Bayfront Park), I thought it’d be fun to round up a handful of…

Ali Jaafar, the engineer and owner of Uptown’s Ecstattic Studio, has been making and recording music since the eighth grade, when he plugged a microphone into his boom box to record a song he played on guitar onto a cassette. Jaafar is a self-taught musician who spent much of his early life practicing music with his…

To many he was known simply as “the Pictureman,” an avid showgoer, observer, and photographer who never left the house without a camera in hand. Charles Chamblis spent much of his life documenting the simple moments—kids gathering at Lake Calhoun on a hot summer day, a woman and her child pausing for a quiet moment…

Sally Hedberg and Dana Raidt met last year when Hedberg was writing a story about the Girls Got Rhythm Fest, an event Raidt organized in 2012 and 2013 to spotlight female musicians. The two hit it off and soon launched a site for their project Girl Germs—named after Raidt’s former podcast and Radio K show—to honor and…

Thursday, April 24 Mid West Music Fest 2014 Various venues, Winona 5 p.m., $20/day, age restrictions vary Winona kicks off its fifth annual Mid West Music Fest (read recaps of 2012 and 2013) with shows in venues throughout the city. Highlights from the first night include folk-bluesmen Charlie Parr and Mike Munson at the Historic…

66-year-old singer Sonny Knight has a down-to-earth humble charisma that charms everyone he meets. Born in Jackson, Mississippi and raised in Minnesota, Knight describes his career as a series of “ups and downs.” He released his first single—as Little Sonny Knight and the Cymbols—almost 50 years ago, but his career stalled when he was drafted…

After spending almost a full calendar year of festivals in other cities (and countries!), the Replacements have just announced a much-anticipated hometown date at Midway Stadium on Saturday, September 13. Update, May 2: The Hold Steady and Lucero have just been announced as openers for this show. Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn is a huge Replacements fan,…

St. Paul’s “best remnant of the 40s” is about to get a few updates. The Star Tribune reports that the landmark venue will close temporarily during June and July, as they will be “installing the fire suppression system, repairing the bars, putting a new roof on, replacing all of the HVAC” and undergoing a new…

On Saturday, June 28, Trampled By Turtles will headline one of Minnesota’s favorite outdoor venues—Duluth’s Bayfront Festival Park—with special guests Doomtree, Low, and Haley Bonar. Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 25th, at noon. The Trampled By Turtles crew have been busy as of late, and don’t seem to plan on slowing down. Dave…

Tina and the B-Sides: Barricade Once fixtures of the Minneapolis New Wave circuit in the 80s, Tina Schlieske and her backing band the B-Sides—or “the B-Side Movement”—have spent recent years leaning toward roots rock and Americana. Now, in 2014, five years after the release of their Best Of in 2009 and 14 years after their most recent…