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.”
June 20th 2024
May 16th 2024
May 16th 2024
April 18th 2024
April 18th 2024
__293px-wide.jpg)
__293px-wide.jpg)
By Maddie Robinsonmaddierobi.mr@gmail.com This article discusses topics related to mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. …
The life of a jockey straight from the horse's mouthBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comFor George Pineda, jockeying is a family tradition. But that legacy includes loss. “My uncles, Alvaro and Robert Pineda — one got killed in a…
Thursday, August 8, gates 5 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m.Bluestem Amphitheater, 801 50th Avenue S., MoorheadFormed by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer, upright bass player Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom, The Stray Cats…
Recovering from PennsylvaniaBy John Strandjas@hpr1.com Holy shit, America! Is this a path we want to stay on? Is this the tipping point or brink we’re at? Is it a sign of more to come, or a come to Jesus moment where we decide…
By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comHow can anyone be lonely with eight billion homo sapiens on Earth?The world seems to be in the throes of a PTSD pandemic. Even the price of happiness is going way up. Back in 2010 two Nobel Prize…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…
HPR chats with Slug of the hip-hop duo AtmosphereBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comWhen Sean Daley, also known as Slug, the voice of Twin Cities-based hip hop duo Atmosphere and co-founder of rap label Rhymesayers was growing up,…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the…
New Minnesota sculptures include artist’s largest trollBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com According to Danish artist and environmental activist Thomas Dambo, “All trash is treasure.” So far, he and his team have built 138…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By John Showalter john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…
JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…
By Madeline Lukemzlnd@yahoo.com About 100 years ago the state of agriculture in North Dakota was pretty dire. Minnesota banks, grain mills, and railroads treated ND as a colony; they extracted our labor and natural resources for…