Music

​Vampire in the sun: Sharon Van Etten reveals her secrets through music

July 10th, 2014

Photo by Dusdin Condren

“I am a vampire, I don’t know if you knew that,” Sharon Van Etten semi joked and revealed to the High Plains Reader this past week.

Truly, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter makes it sound like she is a vampire in her crazy infectious tune “Every Time The Sun Comes Up (I’m in trouble).”

Knowing that she’s continually and gradually getting more popular, perhaps we should be more worried about just how much trouble she’s going to get in. How can someone so dark and so…

Read more...


Chevelle: Rockers of Future Past

June 19th, 2014

By Austin Kettelhut

Chevelle, the hard rocking trio from Chicago, has established itself as one of the few bands that has not only survived the “post-grunge rock” phase of the early 2000s, but has also separated itself from the era entirely. Once upon a time the group would have been lumped into a genre of music that was quickly becoming a desolate, unoriginal wasteland. Rock was dying, and maybe it did die in some sense, but Chevelle has refused to get swept under by the current.…

Read more...


​Nekododos

May 15th, 2014

This Friday, May 16, San Francisco alternative-rock group The Dodos will open for alternative singer/songwriter Neko Case at The Fargo Theatre for one of the most highly anticipated alternative concerts of the year.

Alternative, indeed. Both The Dodos and Neko Case dig deep into their unconventional minds to express strange, yet endearing rhythms, words and phrases, while connecting with their audience through glorious melodies and harmonies.

The Dodos are well known for their releases…

Read more...


​Acoustic aspirations

May 8th, 2014

New guitar shop Flatland specializing in guitar repair, maintenance and sales

Is your guitar buzzing, wildly out of tune or sounding less vibrant? If you live in the Fargo-Moorhead area and you own a guitar, chances are, your instrument(s) is suffering from post-winter trauma and is need of some optimizing.

Flatland Guitar and Lutherie, located next to Addictions Tattoo and The Great Wall on University Dr. in Fargo, can help with that – and just about anything guitar related: neck…

Read more...


​Wild Hands: New Dakota bluegrass

May 8th, 2014

Young Minot musicians to tour the Midwest and Europe

By Konner Johnson

Minot’s own Wild Hands have been playing music for only a few years but already have established themselves in the Midwest bluegrass scene. The group will play their first show at The Aquarium with the award-winning Minnesota string band Roe Family Singers.

Wild Hands are known for their rock-Americana-bluegrass style that delivers compellingly honest songs about this area of the country. For a smaller, isolated North…

Read more...


​Experiments in hip-hop

April 24th, 2014

Kill the Vultures to twist beats at The Aquarium

Alexei Moon Casselle is a born and bred Minneapolis rapper. He’s been a hype man for Twin-Cities legends Atmosphere and Eyedea & Abilities, an acoustic guitarist for the indie group Roma Di Luna and an emcee for the hip-hop party group Odd Jobs. Nowadays he spends time “killing vultures,” so to speak, with experimental beats, rhymes and poetry.

This Saturday, April 26, Casselle’s hip-hop group Kill the Vultures will perform its very…

Read more...


​“Love, Loss, & Regret”—Pat Lenertz Band comes into its own

April 3rd, 2014

Photo by Holly D. Photography // Cover by Raul Gomez

Having singer/guitarist Pat Lenertz in town is like having our very own John Prine, Jerry Garcia, Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson. These comparisons are huge, but the humble Lenertz has a really strong knack for paying respects to his heroes.

In fact, he has so many heroes that he brought in 24 of his favorite local musicians to play on his very first solo record, “Love, Loss, & Regret,” set to release April 17 with a party at The Aquarium.

“It’s a reflection of the downtown…

Read more...


HPR at SXSW

March 20th, 2014

Destruction Unit / photo by Chris Hennen

For six years in a row, I’ve travelled to Austin, Texas for the SXSW Music Conference and Festival, which has become the biggest, most talked about spectacle in the music industry. The conference is most well known for its music portion, but this year I had the opportunity to cover the music and interactive sides of it as well.

What started as a music conference in 1987 to break new bands has grown into something much, much larger. Established musical acts that don't need any exposure,…

Read more...


​HBO finds Amanda Standalone

March 13th, 2014

Amanda Standalone / Photo by Amber Fletschock

Apparently not all serious musicians have to be really good at “putting themselves out there.” Local folk singer Amanda Nygard (Standalone) admits she’s terrible at it and yet here she is, receiving paychecks from rich and revered women like Maria Shriver and signing contracts from people she’s never met from cities she never visits.

Indeed, this March 17 (St. Patty’s Day), Nygard’s music will debut on HBO in its brand new documentary: “Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life &…

Read more...


​KumNcyde: Bringin’ sexy back

February 6th, 2014

Chazz, K(r)ISS, Deriq, AJ and CJ are back. Boy, if you thought Halloween was crazy, get ready for V-Day and expect all things to be badder, ballsier, bigger, better and bunchier.

That’s right, the Fargo boys of KumNcyde are redefining love as we speak. Y’all better be ready at The Aquarium.

High Plains Reader: Last Halloween, with your sweaty dance moves, mucho-suave matching outfits and pristine voices, you boys stole all our hearts at The Aquarium. What do you guys have in store for…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry High Plains Fair Housing Tracker Pixel for Entry fmva2 Tracker Pixel for Entry Farrms Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck1 Tracker Pixel for Entry ValleyCon

Recently in:

By Sabrina Hornung  sabrina@hpr1.comPhoto credit: Kayana SzymczakLeading Voice on Climate Change to Embark on Three-Stop ND TourInternationally…

By Michael M. Miller michael.miller@ndsu.eduOne of the most important books published about the Germans from Russia in North Dakota is “Along the Trails of Yesterday: A Story of McIntosh County” by Nina Farley Wishek, published…

photo credit: Jessica GavinSeptemberOktoberfest: Now-October 3Wurst Bier HallStein-holding competition, happy hour Mon-Fri from 4-6, wear your dirndl or lederhosen, German music.https://wurstfargo.com/Papa’s Pumpkin…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.comOur Opinion: Thank you, Reader readers, for 29 fulfilling yearsChugging along, The Little Newspaper That Could commences its 30th volume and year with this issue. Simply getting here speaks volumes. Just…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comIs Cruelty a Part of Nature—or Is It Just Part of Human Nature?Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has been my economics guru for many years for his pithy columns in The New York Times. In…

We are looking for 55-gallon plastic food grade barrels, do you have ideas or connections?We use these barrels to teach our resilient yard workshop series including Make Your Own Rain Barrel and Make Your Own Compost Tumbler. If…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comMy new venture as a master’s degree student has got me thinking…again about food. Although I’m in an online program with the University of North Dakota, I thought it would be handy to list and…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comThe Melvins formed in 1983 Montesano, Washington, founded by singer/guitar player Buzz Osborne. The group is known for its heavy sound mixed with a dose of punk, forming its own subgenre.…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comAs reactions and reviews of Wes Anderson’s return to the world of Roald Dahl attest, the quartet of short story adaptations undoubtedly would have been better experienced as a theatrical…

By HPR Staffsubmit@hpr1.comThe Fargo Moorhead Visual Artists’ much-lauded neighbor lovin’ Studio Crawl is just around the corner – October 7 and 8, noon to 6pm. During the free event, the people who add culture and vibrancy…

By Eric Dallmanericd@hpr1.comWe recently watched “The PROM” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, and it was an experience that left a lasting impact on us. The story, a heartwarming yet familiar one, follows a group of Broadway stars…

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 Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On the first day of the month I ask people to thank a journalist they know or someone who contributes to papers in some meaningful way. When I grew up, my best friend's father was a journalist…