Arts | September 15th, 2021
By Alicia Underlee Nelson
alicia@hpr1.com
Downtown Fargo has a new mural that commemorates a music legend and a Grammy-winning concert. Artist Jeff Knight completed a painting of Duke Ellington on the alley side of the Rhombus Guys building at 606 Main Ave. this summer. The mural features the composer, pianist and band leader at his piano against an aqua background dotted with other musical instruments.
The painting is just steps from the site of the Crystal Ballroom, which stood at the corner of 6th St. and 1st Ave. S. The municipal auditorium’s second-floor dance hall hosted prominent jazz and big band musicians and well-attended dances until 1957. The show Ellington and his Famous Orchestra played in the Crystal Ballroom on November 7, 1940 might just be a memory if two former college DJs, Richard Burris and Jack Towers, hadn’t gotten permission to record it.
Towers later made a tape of the show for a friend. The bootleg circled Europe in the 1960s and 1970s before it was officially released in 1978. It won a Grammy Award in 1980.
“I was shocked that I had lived my whole life here and had not heard of that story,” said Knight. He wanted to create a mural to commemorate that particular moment in Fargo music history.
The mural is the first in the Fargo Music Icons Mural series. It’s funded in part by a grant from The Arts Partnership in Fargo.
“That's when I looped in friends Cody Schuler and Gia Rassier to help with establishing a springboard with which we could make these public murals accessible so more people could learn about their historical value,” he explained. “Cody developed a website (fargomurals.com) and Gia is helping with the mural's inclusion on a variety of experiential walking tours.”
Additional murals are planned in the coming months. Updates will be posted on the website as details are finalized.
“We're hoping to do some more murals in the future with a Fargo-Moorhead connection, including Bob Dylan, Peggy Lee, and Bobby Vee,” Knight explained. “We're just looking for the right spaces and a bit of funding to cover those future murals.”
November 17th 2022
September 14th 2022
August 17th 2022
May 18th 2022
April 21st 2022
_(1)__293px-wide.png)
_(1)__293px-wide.jpeg)
__293px-wide.jpg)
By Laura Simmonslaurasimmons2025@u.northwestern.eduGovernor Doug Burgum called for the removal of the anti-corporate farming law during the State of the State Address. The anti-corporate farming law is a contentious topic. Some…
__300x100.jpg)
By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comAfter a year of darkness, the windows at the corner of First Avenue and Broadway – the building that sparked the Downtown Fargo renaissance – are once again aglow. Friends shrug off their…
Now-February 25Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargohttps://frostival.com/schedule/Whoever said there’s nothing to do in Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo clearly hibernates through Frostival, because this six-week celebration of winter just…
__300x100.jpg)
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comOur opinion: The sound of ND collectively holding its breathAs the legislative session nears one may notice a certain stillness in the air as a good part of North Dakota’s population collectively…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comCan a Sick Society Recover from Plagues, Pandemics, and Pandemonium?I wanted to check the dictionary definition of “pandemic”: Widespread; general; universal. In medicine: Epidemic over an…
Well shiver me timbers. After weeks of sampling some of the finest drinks in F-M from more bars than we could shake a belaying pin at, the results of High Plains Reader’s 6th Annual Cocktail Showdown are in! For nine weeks,…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comArea food fans are definitely excited about the new Asian and American Supermarket that recently opened just a few blocks west of its former location on Fargo’s Main Avenue. Just drive by the new…
By John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comSick riffs, extreme vocals, chaotic energy: all these and more are among the reasons that people listen to…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comThe unbelievable fate of one of the world’s largest collections of physical movie media is the subject of “Kim’s Video,” a fizzy and entertaining nonfiction cocktail mixing essay-like…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIf you’ve ever driven down the Enchanted Highway, the 32-mile ribbon of road connecting Regent to Gladstone in western North Dakota, home to the world’s largest salvaged metal sculptures,…
By Jessica M. Hawkesjmhawkes84@gmail.comIt wasn’t long after the founding of the railroad and river town of New Rockford that entertainment venues started to put down their own roots. Its population bolstered by booms of nearby…
By Jan Syverson Jan.r.Syverson@gmail.comFor the past 30 years live, stand-up comedy has had a place in the Fargo Moorhead area, Starting with…
By Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comSpring is here (mostly), and our area is buzzing with people eager to get back out and about -- many newly vaccinated and feeling a bit safer. Partnering with Jade Events, Fargo Brewing is just…
By John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…
By Breanna Sieglerbreanna@icehousefit.comNew Year, New You? I guess that means that I have to go to the gym three times a week and I should probably sign up for an event so that I can stay on track. I think I could maybe do a half…
By Stacie Hansen-Leiersubmit@hpr1.com I’ve been a resident of Valley City for most of my fifty-one years, with the exception of short residencies in Jamestown, Fargo, the Park Rapids Minn. area and five years in the Cities.I’ve…