by John Showalter | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | August 15th, 2018
Woodstock: even people who were born years after the original three-day music festival recognize the name. The event, which took place between August 15th and 18th at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in southern New York and attracted over 400,000 attendees, featured the most famous musical talents of the day and was a pivotal event not just in the history of popular music but the American counterculture as well.
The summer of 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the legendary music…
by HPR Contributor | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | August 15th, 2018
By Travis Hopkins
trav.hopkins@yahoo.com
Every musician remembers the bands and artists that lit their fire, igniting the spark for their love of music. It’s a love like no other, one that molds a lifestyle, fuels a dream and takes you on a journey. No matter who you are or what kind of music it was, it changed your life. To many Warrant is one of those bands. They came from an era of music that exuded fun, flash and excitement with loud guitars and catchy hooks. Their music videos…
by John Showalter | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | August 8th, 2018
The fledgling United States of America was formed when the colonies took to revolution against the British monarchy over two centuries ago. Of course, that revolution did not prevent the British from invading us almost two hundred years later, during the 1960s and 1970s. Albeit then, they did it musically. The “British Invasion” marked a prolific influx of British musicians and rockers who left an indelible impact on pop culture on both sides of the pond, from The Beatles to…
by Sabrina Hornung | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | August 2nd, 2018
The story of Ben and Emily Roberts could be summed up best as a blue collar love story. The husband and wife Americana duo spend close to half of their year on the road but there’s more to their setlist than filling the world with silly love songs.
“I love a good love song but a lot of our songs are very personal but they’re more about our life. The ups, downs, moments of discouragement, and the small victories along the way.” Said Ben Roberts.
High Plains Reader: How did the two…
by Hee Han | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | August 1st, 2018
“The Bohemian Family Ramble was created to offer the Quarterly, Fargo-Moorhead’s Grateful Dead tribute band, a fourth place to perform in a family friendly outdoor setting. The Ramble has since become an event where local, regional musicians, artists and lovers of music converge to make a weekend of beautiful melody,” Tracey Sand, Co-host of the Bohemian Family Ramble, said.
The Ramble has a reputation for promoting local and regional artists with music, camping and…
by James Osborne | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 26th, 2018
In 1986, Movile Cave was discovered in rural Romania. Hermetically sealed for 5.5 million years, the ecosystem is unlike any other on earth. The oxygen levels were much lower, the CO2 much higher, the temperature hovers around 80°F and the walls are covered in dense layers of fungus and microbes. It’s a marvel in isolated evolution: eyeless spiders, albino woodlice, water scorpions, etc. Of the 48 species discovered in Movile Cave, 33 were found nowhere else in the world.
The…
by Sabrina Hornung | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 25th, 2018
High Plains Reader had the opportunity to speak with Stephanie Smith and Patrick Stanton of the Chicago based Indie-pop band Varsity.
High Plains Reader: How did Varsity come to be?
Stephanie Smith: We all sort of grew up playing music, but none of us studied music in school, none of us went to college for music or anything. So we kind of all met up again back in Chicago after school. Pat and I met in college and we kind of met Dylan in college our guitar player. The Stolz brothers on…
by Sabrina Hornung | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 25th, 2018
When St. Paul based rapper Desdamona first emerged on the hip hop scene in the Twin Cities in the mid 90s she had a tough time securing a foothold.
“Getting on the scene was hard and I did experience some sexism in that realm because I was a woman, like kind of dismissing me, or listening to me talk but not actually do what I wanted to do. I had someone say to me that they didn’t work with female artists, which sounds crazy that someone would say that but that was like 1995/96…
by Sabrina Hornung | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 18th, 2018
We had a chance to chat with Duluth native Gaelynn Lea at Winnipeg Folk Festival. Not only did she tell us how she developed her sound she told us about her experience winning the NPR Tiny Desk Concert and the trials and tribulations of touring life with a disability.
Gaelynn Lea: I’ve been playing violin for 24 years. I started in fifth grade. An orchestra came to my school and I remember really liking it and thinking... next year I need to join up with orchestra. This is awesome. I…
by Phil Hunt | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | July 18th, 2018
In 2005, the city of Moorhead forced a new vision of downtown on the corner of Main and 4th Street. Wine bars, bistros and yoga studios, I guess, were the thing, and punk-supported dive bars were not. Moorhead successfully gave Ralph’s the boot, saddening hundreds of local music fans and Ralph’s patrons who appreciated its homey, rough-hewn, clubhouse atmosphere.
“Back then I think I pretty much always got a pitcher of Bud,” Benjamin Erickson, a founding member of FUP (who play…
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After nearly two and a half years since the people of North Dakota voted to pass the Compassionate Care Act into law in the state, medical marijuana is finally available to patients. Only one dispensary is open right now, but seven…
It was an, “aha,” moment, said Jeremy Jensen. A woman had her vehicle towed into the Fix It Forward Auto Care shop in Moorhead. Jensen and fellow Fix It Forward Auto Care co-founder Matt Carlson had the vehicle on a hoist…
Thursday, April 18, 5-9 p.m.Drekker Brewing Company, 1666 1st Ave N, FargoThe folks at Drekker have partnered with a handful of area artists and the Lend A Hand Up program. A program providing help and hope to families facing…
In 2016, the Rand Corportation’s National Defense Research Institute published a year-long study looking at potential consequences for transgender members to serve within the U.S Military. This study looked at seven different…
The Nordic ModelDr. Thea Hunter, a graduate of Columbia University and an adjunct professor of history at a number of elite colleges and universities, recently died at age 63 of extreme capitalism—and asthma—because of lack of…
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,…
After three years Jon Beyer aka “Jonny B” has become the face and the beard behind Jonny B’s Brickhouse in Jamestown North Dakota. Besides the largest selection of craft beers between here and Bismarck, wood-fired pizzas and…
By Gary Usseryusseryg@gmail.comFYB. Three letters, three words, well known by the guys who make up Cascades, and anyone who is a fan of the five-man band. When asked what genre best describes their sound, I was bombarded with at…
Harmony Korine keeps a tight grip on his title as one of the most critic/critique-proof filmmakers of recent times with “The Beach Bum,” a sultry companion piece to 2012’s memorable “Spring Breakers.” Not without its own…
“I started to look around at state arts council positions because I felt that even though I had never done that, I felt like it would be a really good blend of skills, so I started to look around in 2016. A few jobs came up but I…
Countless examples can be found throughout the history of great art that was only recognized as such after the life of the artist that created it. Such is true of Georges Bizet’s opera "Carmen." While its reception during his…
Stand-up comedy is traditionally a one-way exchange. Outside of the odd question addressed to a random audience member, the limit of the spectators’ contribution to the conversation is their laughter at the comedy stylings being…
By Gabrielle Herschgabbyhersch@gmail.comThink & Drink is coming to Fargo! Organized by Humanities North Dakota, Think & Drink is a happy hour series that hosts a facilitated public conversation about big issues and ideas. Lead by a…
I’m a big man, I’m tall and powerful, but this also causes some issues in the body department. I suffer from acute scoliosis in my lower back, and pain radiates from this area on a daily basis. I have only ever had one massage…
by HPR Contributor
by Devin Joubertdevinlillianjoubert@gmail.comIt’s that beautiful time of the year that’s filled with seasonal decorations, sparkly lights, warm family gatherings, and delicious feasts. I love everything about this time of the…
It seems like the threats to North Dakota’s Badlands never cease. Let’s go back and revisit Wylie Bice. He’s the rogue, rich, rancher up in Dunn County, on the eastern edge of the Badlands, who’s built himself a private…
