A benefit concert to support local musician Shon Troth, who is fighting cancer, has been announced for Nov. 11 at the LynLake Brewery. The benefit will feature music from Solid Gold, Dream Crusher, Johnny & Molly of Communist Daughter, Sean Anonymous, Phillip Morris, and DJ Name. Troth has been a musician and bartender in the Twin Cities…

Some Minnesotans dread the coming of the fall’s first snow, and others look forward to it with excited anticipation. We’ve chosen the latter route. In fact, the first time it snows, we’re going to have a party: a Prince party. When MPR News weather guru Paul Huttner officially certifies that one inch of snow has…

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the Minnesotan production duo behind Janet Jackson‘s new album Unbreakable, surprised Jackson by joining her onstage Friday night in Inglewood, California. They were on hand to congratulate Jackson (and themselves) on the news that Unbreakable debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making it Jackson’s seventh chart-topping album. (Billboard) Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead revealed…

When theatrical British rock band The Darkness come to the Varsity Theater tomorrow night, the audience will include the parents of the local baby who stars on the cover of the band’s new album, Last of Our Kind. “My husband, John, is a HUGE fan of The Darkness,” writes Colee Bean, an MPR member who lives with her…

Patti Smith was at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois to talk about her new memoir when a fan named Noreen Bender walked up and handed Smith several items that had been stolen 36 years ago—possibly when a truck containing some of Smith’s touring equipment was stolen in Chicago in 1979. Bender said a friend gave her…

Prof‘s new album Liability will be released tomorrow on Rhymesayers Entertainment, where the indefatigable party-starter is the newest signee. The album title is a theme for the characters who populate the songs: they’re the kind of people it’s dangerous to have around. (In real life, at least—on record, it’s another matter.) Liability includes guest appearances by Tech…

Between his work as a U.S. Ambassador in Sierra Leone and being McNally Smith College of Music’s hip-hop program department chair, local rapper Toki Wright is taking time for community outreach in southeastern Minnesota. Wright will give two days of public workshops, including a free show, this month in Winona area schools. The Mid West Music…

Never mind the Governor’s Mansion: a private Paisley Park party is turning into the Minnesota version of a White House reception. After bashes welcoming the National Association of Black Journalists (in August) and Madonna (last week), Prince helped the Minnesota Lynx celebrate their WNBA championship by inviting them to his Chanhassen studio for a private…

Marlon James, a professor at St. Paul’s Macalester College, has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for a novel that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. Though the novel is a work of fiction, the assassination attempt that inspired the book actually happened, when gunmen stormed Marley’s house in 1976 and shot the reggae legend,…

If you’ve listened to previous episodes of The O.K. Show, you’ll know that I am very interested in how artists’ health affects their ability to make music. We’ve talked about mental health, disease, depression and grief—all such serious topics at the core of some of today’s most moving songwriting. Today, I’m taking things a different…