Music

​The Fargo-Moorhead DIY Music Scene

January 16th, 2019

Basement show at Grease's house, starring Hangtime - photograph provided by Fargo.live

Gary Ussery

“DIY ‘Til I Die!”
It’s the code that many in the Fargo-Moorhead live by. Music at any cost, under any means, for any one. DIY lives in the basements of our neighbors, the living rooms of our friends, and the backyards of strangers. A lot of people may call it underground music, but that sounds so dark, so archaic, and trust me, there is only light and love when it comes to DIY Music.

The Fargo-Moorhead area has a prolific DIY music scene, but you may have never heard of…

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A Spot of Grime on the North Dakota Music Scene

January 9th, 2019

Grime-photo by fargo.live

Grime is composed of three members: Nick Jensen on guitar and backing vocals, Cale Mogard on drums, and Andrew Wickenheiser on lead vocals and bass guitar. They have a history that goes back at least six years. The band formed in November 2012, when Andrew and Nick (who had previously been in a cover band together) decided they want to write their own music. At first, an old friend of Jensen’s filled rum duty. By the end of 2013, a new drummer named Tim Gray took his place. Gray…

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Gettin’ FUNKY for Christmas

December 19th, 2018

photograph provided by Post-Traumatic Funk Syndrome Facebook page

by Ryan Janke
ryan.janke78@gmail.com

The Sanctuary Events Center is going to get funky this weekend as Post-Traumatic Funk Syndrome (PTFS) takes the stage for three performances Friday and Saturday.

For the performances, PTFS has taken Christmas songs you know and love, and put their own spin on it, bringing a style that will keep you rocking from start to finish. “What’s cool about this band is we do all our own unique arrangements of everything, really,” says Russ Peterson, who…

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Snow and Flurry

December 12th, 2018

Stage - photography by Fargo.Live

by Jacques Harvieux
jacquesthejock@gmail.com

Mosh pit etiquette 101:

  1. The mosh pit is located front and center of the stage.
  2. Create a sizeable ring.
  3. When the music starts unleash mayhem.
  4. If you fall - get up immediately.
  5. If somebody else falls - help them up immediately.
  6. Don’t target other people. It’s moshing not fighting.
  7. If you do fight, you will suffer the consequences.

When Brandon, the lead singer of Doubt took the stage on Sunday afternoon to start the day, the mosh pit had just…

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Midwest roots

December 5th, 2018

Hornung-Midwest Roots-photograph by Chris Casella 0

When Iowa born roots musician William Elliott Whitmore describes his latest album “Kilonova,” he likens it to a mixed tape, it’s all covers ranging from Magnetic Fields to Captain Beefheart, Jimmie Driftwood and more. He said the songs that he chose are the kind of songs that you want to share with others and from a songwriter’s perspective, songs so good he wished he would have written them. Though the album consists of covers, Whitmore’s earthy baritone comes through making…

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Dearly Departed Not Planning on Leaving

December 5th, 2018

Showalter-Dearly Departed-photography by Gary Ussery

The biggest stumbling block for any local band is not taking themselves seriously enough. Even if your band may not be headlining giant concerts at convention centers around the country, keeping a level head and showing that you are serious about music not just as a passion but as a business, can go a long way in obtaining studio time and getting promoters to book you for shows at their venues at the local venue and beyond.

No one would accuse the band Dearly Departed of not doing…

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Noon organ concerts are key this holiday season

November 14th, 2018

photograph provided by Red River Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society

by Gabrielle Hersch
gabbyhersch@gmail.com 

With the kickoff of the holiday season (and the weather!) underway, it’s almost time for the annual holiday organ concerts at the Fargo Theatre. The concerts, put on as a partnership between the Red River chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS) and the Fargo Theatre, are a local holiday tradition spanning several decades.

The concerts are held at noon — just right for anyone on their lunch break in need of a holiday serenade this…

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Heatbox does more than Beatbox

October 31st, 2018


photograph courtesy of Heatbox

When asked if Aaron “Heatbox” Heaton was ever formally trained to play an instrument he admitted to playing the tuba for seven years. Though during his senior year in high school he found his calling and it wasn’t the tuba. When asked when he realized he could use his mouth as an instrument he said, “I performed at the high school pep rally and everyone went crazy about it and it was the best. So I thought huh… maybe I should do that more.”

Heaton aka “Heatbox” is a…

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Harping On About the Symphony’s Second Show

October 31st, 2018


Showalter - music - Yolanda Kondonassis by Laura Watilo Blake

The 2018-2019 season of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks series is underway. After a breathtaking first concert of the season featuring not one but two world-renowned soloists, the second will be bringing in one of its own. What makes this particular concert and soloist interesting is that it marks a first for the FMSO. “To my knowledge we have not had an internationally renowned harpist as a guest artist before,” said Linda Boyd, executive director of FMSO. …

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A ‘Cold Front’ Hits the FM Area

October 24th, 2018

Hariveaux - Cold Front - photograph by Falcon Gott

by Jacques Harvieux
jacquesthejock@gmail.com

A few steps above Dempsey’s downtown Fargo is the place where locals go to pack themselves in like fish in a bowl. To swim about in an atmosphere, at least for as long as the show lasts, seems hedonistic in nature. Pleasured often by sounds that are a mix of new and old, exotic and local. You get your ticket to the left and get your drink to the right. The Aquarium floats above most, often including acts that are a mix of older prominent…

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