So here’s something I don’t talk about very often. When the Current launched in the beginning of 2005, I was living a dramatically different life. I was a college drop-out, floundering around trying to figure out where I had left all my ambitions and dreams, and I spent my days pinning tiny paper numbers to…

Happy Friday! We have a lot of ground to cover in this week’s video roundup, as we travel to Mexico with Dessa, the set of reality show American Idol, and the United Nations with Guante. Buckle up… Dessa takes us underwater Be sure to check out Dessa’s interview with PRI to get the full backstory on…

“I was so much older then,” sang Bob Dylan in 1964. “I’m younger than that now.” Dylan’s 51 years older now (at least by the calendar), and he’s embracing his senior demographic with the marketing strategy for Shadows in the Night, his forthcoming album of Frank Sinatra covers, which is set for release on Feb. 3. Dylan…

As he prepares to release his new album Shadows in the Night, Bob Dylan gave a long interview to AARP’s magazine—ironic, given that the septuagenarian is anything but retired. In the interview, he talks about the process of recording the new album (he says all the songs were recorded in the order they appear on the album),…

The music industry has changed dramatically since the Current launched in 2005. In the early days of the station iPods and other mp3 players were still a fairly new revelation, and people still mainly purchased CDs—although those sales numbers were shifting dramatically. As the Current celebrates its 10th anniversary, I’ve been thinking a lot about…

Colorguard: yes, it’s that flag-waving team you remember from high school. David Byrne became fascinated with the activity after a team asked to use some of his music in a routine, and he’s now organized four all-star concerts, in New York and Toronto in late June, that will pair colorguard teams with artists including himself, tUnE-yArDs,…

In an evening meant to pay tribute to our state’s reigning Prince, what transpired was actually a celebration of our scene’s queen. As the most high-profile act on the bill for the Purple Rain tribute at the Fitzgerald Theater, it wasn’t exactly a surprise that Queen Lizzo—the only title for her that feels appropriate right now—managed to steal…

Björk‘s new album Vulnicura is now being officially released via an ongoing 24-hour rollout around the world. The decision to release the album ahead of its planned March release follows the recent leak of a low-quality version of the album, making the decision reminiscent of Madonna‘s choice to release several tracks from her new album Rebel Heart…

Kevin Steinman, a former Minneapolis artist who now resides in Oslo, Norway, is one of several artists protesting what they regard as poor Norwegian climate change policy.  In support of the Norwegian Church Aid’s climate campaign, Steinman performed a cover of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” in a video that appears on…

A two-pronged celebration, jazz and hip-hop artist José James’s performance at the Mayo Civic Center Presentation Hall in Rochester on Jan. 17 commemorated both The Current’s tenth anniversary and the centennial of Billie Holiday—born in Philadelphia on April 7, 1915. James was introduced by Mark Wheat, who noted the artist’s “own way of approaching jazz” before…