Get Awestruck by Aurora

by Doug MacRostie

I had been hearing about this really good songwriter from the Iron Range. A young girl. Musicians who stopped by the station would mention her name. From Aitkin. Promoters of festivals would be excited to have her. Also plays the harmonica. Producers would expect her to, "not be around here long, this girl is going places". And they were right. I am very excited to have Aurora Baer in-studio this week on Centerstage MN. Trust me, you're going to love this :) And, she will be opening for the Mark Olson (of The Jayhawks) concert we have here this Monday night!

On her way to 22 years old and still new to the being a professional musician, Aurora is breathtaking. She has a very emotional and powerful voice and writes a unique style of acoustic soul-blues. When asked about music and songwriting as a form of therapy, she said, "Definitely I consider it for me and for the listener. But isn't that the point, isn't that the point of music? I mean, that's kind of a broad question but: what is the point of music? Isn't it... to help people deal with things and process emotions, you know. Big part of it. Why do you go see live music? Because it makes you feel better and allows you to move stuff in your mind and deal with things. Or teach lessons, tell stories, you know. "

And she's not the only Northern MN artist we'll hear this week. I'll also be playing Trampled by Turtles and Lance Benson. Also a new band to Centerstage MN, Saint Anyway's new album Two, they're from Cloquet.

I am really excited to have a master copy of the upcoming release from Sela Oveson called "Rogue Lightning". The artwork isn't even done for this album yet and it isn't available anywhere, but Sela stopped by the station to drop off :D Sela is one of my favorite MN musicians - she has a fire that burns within her, a voice that's powerful and songs with meaning. She sings in a unique style that can carry you away to the heart of her music, and she has many Iron Range musicians joining her for a thicker presentation on this CD.

Centerstage MN is Thursday evenings at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji and can be heard again Sunday mornings at 6. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org. Centerstage MN is also heard on KSRQ in Thief River Falls, and on KMSU in Mankato. Sometimes heard on KFAI in Minneapolis & St. Paul and WTIP in Grand Marais. Often featured on MNartists.org.

The Beautiful and Lonely Courtney Yasmineh

by Doug MacRostie

While dreams of being a rockstar and performing around the world are in the hearts and minds of many aspiring songwriters, the reality of the music industry can be a cold, hard place. Through hard work and dedication Courtney Yasmineh has taken her music not only all over the U.S., but around the world and her latest release, "Beautiful Lonely" has taken her revealing and emotional songwriting in more of a rock direction sonically with highlights of pop, and she'll be joining me in-studio to talk about it on Centerstage MN - plus, she'll have her guitar along for some live music.

Having started playing guitar at the age of 8, Courtney Yasmineh releases music on her own label, "Stupid Bitch Records" and she does all her own management and promotion. This hands on approach may be too time consuming and hectic for some, but Courtney embraces it and puts in her all. As she describes in on her website, "I used to be a person, and when I was a person I liked nature, reading and writing, romance and friendship. Now I'm a musician and I am consumed by my musician-ness. When I come up for air, I hope a person I will again be."

I'll be starting the show with another song of Janiva Magness's "The Devil is an Angel Too," an outstanding album of blues/R&B with enough emotion to make Oscar the Grouch weep. It's on the top of my list to contact her label to get her back on the show to talk about this new CD. We'll also hear from The Hold Steady's new CD "Heaven is Whenever." A national act out of Brooklyn, they were formed by Craig Finn and Tad Kubler, the former members of 1990s Minneapolis band Lifter Puller. This new album is a rockin' homage to the classic rock of their youth dancing on the edge of the mainstream. Plus some High Bongo from Grand Rapids and Trampled by Turtles from Duluth.

Centerstage MN is Thursday evenings at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji and can be heard again Sunday mornings at 6. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org. Centerstage MN is also heard on Pioneer 90.1 in Thief River Falls, Saturday nights at 11pm KFAI at 90.3 FM Minneapolis & 106.7 FM St. Paul Tuesday nights between 8 and 10pm.

Exclusive Backstage Video: Trampled by Turtles

Trampled by Turtles are an eclectic 'new-grass' group hailing from Duluth, MN. They have built a solid following not only regionally but all over the U.S. and beyond with their fiery music and intelligent lyrics building a devoted word-of-mouth army of die-hard fans.

Their new release, "Palomino", debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Charts and has been in the top 5 for 5 weeks now - currently back up to #3 (right behind the Carolina Chocolate Drops "Genuine Negro Jig"). This is their 5th album and (as usual) it's excellent. As described on their website, "While using time-honored tools of the trade - guitar, acoustic bass, banjo, mandolin and fiddle - their soul-deep differences in influences, attitude and attack make for a very different musical beast." And that's saying nothing of their unbelievably high-energy live shows...

So, in celebration of the continuing success of Turtles, here is an exclusive video clip we have of them warming up with Rich Mattson at the 10,000 Lakes Festival (r.i.p) last year, mixed in with some of the performance on the main stage (just before Wide Spread Panic!) including both "When the Ship Comes In" and "Shenandoah":



A big thanks to Trampled by Turtles for welcoming Doug MacRostie into their dressing room shortly before taking the main stage! Check out KAXE.org for more info on MN music, and more.

From Urban Hillbillies to Native Hip-Hoppers

by Doug MacRostie

In a recent e-mail conversation with a Statewide organization, it was asked if Centerstage MN can be easily categorized into a sub-genre like folk, blues or rock... I responded that CSMN is purposefully programmed and produced to NOT fit into any category other than "music" and I've got the mondo-variety this week to prove it with the Urban Hillbilly Quartet in-studio, music from Trampled by Turtles new CD "Palomino" and Leech Lake hip-hop artist Mino Biimadiziwin. Tune in this Thursday night at 6!

Erik Brandt and the Urban Hillbilly Quartet are a St. Paul based Americana roots-rock band who just released their 7th album, "Bring in the Sails," after starting as a jam session back in 1995. Their music ranges from traditionally influenced Americana to modern rock, often blending these and other styles together for a unique and engaging, story-driven presentation. They've also been traveling with a projector and artist doing live and original art during performances - making this the first time a multi-media presentation is being performed on Centerstage MN in the air-studio.

Trampled by Turtles new CD "Palomino" is another excellent release from this Duluth based eclectic band. While still instantly identifiable as Turtles, this album once again features the band pushing the boundaries of "new-grass," lead by the intimate and passionate lyrics of Dave Simonett. Sometimes furiously fast, other times consumingly slow, always outstanding. I'm working on getting Dave on to talk about it in the near future :D

We'll also hear another song from More Than Lights' "The Electric Prescription for All Your Funky Illz," a great hybrid CD of rock/hip-hop along with a new artist to Centerstage MN, Mino Biimadiziwin (formerly known as Wah Wah Tay). I don't know much about him yet other than he's from the Leech Lake Rez and the video for his song Indigenous Holocaust is a breathtakingly powerful piece about the historical trauma on Native American people. He samples from The Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice" (a Grammy-winning song penned by MN's own Dan Wilson). Check out the video:



Centerstage MN is Thursday evenings at 6, streaming live online at www.KAXE.org; or 91.7 Grand Rapids, 89.9 Brainerd and 105.3 Bemidji. All interviews are archived at www.KAXE.org and the show is rebroadcast Sunday mornings at 6.

Trampled by Dave w a Banjo Cult at 10KLF

by Doug MacRostie

The 4 days of music that is the 10,000 Lakes Festival is one of my favorite weekends of the year, and it was made all-the-more special this time around as my 6 month old son Escher was along for the ride with my wife Sarah and I (last year he was in utero, so he could probably hear the music better this time around...). With amazing music and excellent people-watching, we had an outstanding time. You can see a highlight reel I put together on KAXE's YouTube Channel including most of the bands I'll be mentioning, or check out pictures in KAXE's Online Photo Album.

We arrived Wednesday morning to set up camp at a friend of a friend's place and worked our way over to the camping area by Soo Pass Ranch to meet up with some friends of ours - then it was off to catch the 10K kickoff w Gomez and Widespread Panic on the main stage. Sunny skies, a happy crowd of hippy-types and live music...perfect! Panic did a great set (surprise surprise :p) and Escher made it all the way into their second set (this being his first camping-festival) before we decided to head back to camp. He did sleep AT the concert some, but we figured we didn't need to push it the first night.

The first night of sleep in a tent went great for all of us - I'm sure the wonderful over-stimulation of a music festival helped tire the little guy out; he did wake up a little when a train went by, but was easy to get back to sleep. That's important, because he had 3 more days of music to rest for...

Usually I have a general idea of the bands I plan to see each day, and Thursday had Mason Jennings and Atmosphere at the top of my list. But, one of the fun things about festivals is the bands you haven't heard, and I was pleasently surprised by the Akron Family Band; a crazily rockin' group! When we first walked up, there were a lot of people sitting as they started to play, and not 15 minutes later they had the crowd on their feet and gathering at the front of the stage. In that previously mentioned YouTube Reel, you can see their bass player eating his guitar :D Very orignal, very experimental and very high energy, it was great.

After the Akron Family, we headed over to Blue Ox camping and randomly caught the MN band Dalia playing on the stage there. Wow, cool stuff. Hip-hip lyrics, vocal harmonies, hand drums, & acoustic guitars - they had a hoppin' crowd when we came wondering over and it was another wonderful find wandering the festival.

We made it back to mainstage to see Mason Jennings, one of the first mainstage bands to have intelligable vocals (not to bash Panic or Gomez, but they were less about words and more about vibes) . Mason did some new songs from his upcoming release and also slowed things down and did some solo songs with his electric guitar. Then it was Wilco, who did a higher-energy set than I was expecting, but we decided to leave maybe halfway through. It was a bummer to miss Atmosphere, but having a well rested baby was worth it. There was a thunderstorm that night, and Escher slept right through it, which was awesome. Day 3, here we come...

We made it to the concert bowl in time to catch Cloud Cult and WOW - they were awesome! They had so much energy with such a unique style, made all the more interesting with the "string section," which I heard getting a lot of positive exclamations during their performance. Another cool thing during their show was two people painting with-the-music; as in - painting to the rhythm of the music, and the paintings were then auctioned off afterward. And seriously, they were on the Barn Stage (the 3rd largest) and SHOULD have been on the Field Stage (2nd largest) because they had that area packed full of people.

I was really looking forward to seeing Trampled by Turtles on Mainstage Friday night, but things got uber-cool when Rich Mattson (founder of The Tisdales, owner of Sparta Sound recording studio) bumped into me and told me he would be singing a couple songs with Turtles that night. He took me backstage and I got exclusive footage of a warm-up of Rich & Turtles in the dressing room backstage at 10K (that video highlight is on the way :D) - VERY cool. Turtles put on an excellent, high-energy performance and the crowd was lovin' it! I don't think I've ever seen a band rock that hard without even standing up :)

Widespread Panic was on again after Turtles, and while I enjoy them; two nights was a little much and we snuck out early (bummer to miss Wookiefoot, but again - good to let the little dude get some sleep - we was LOVIN' the festival experience and didn't want to miss a thing, heh).

The final day of 10KLF was a very good day; which is important, considering we missed a wedding to attend - but hey, Dave, Banjos and Snider? hard to pass up! The day started off with Todd Snider saying "People tell me my music keeps get more and more opinionated...I'm not here to change your mind or tell you what to think, I'm going to sing these words because they rhyme," and he did an excellently raw solo-acoustic show.

Then we were off to see Two Many Banjos back at the Blue Ox Stage. I have wanted to see TMB for a LONG time and they were everything I was hoping to see. Authentic music complete with two banjos, washboard, stand-up bass and fiddle. They had the biggest crowd I saw at a campground stage and the majority of them were dancing. TMB's feet were stompin', fingers were flyin' and the harmonies rang out to an eager crowd. And it was nice finally getting to meet Marc Gartman in person (he's been on Centerstage MN 3 times and counting), and he gave me a new CD he recorded with a different band that we'll be hearing in the coming weeks. Anyway, I know Sarah said they were her favorite band from 10KLF 09, and I agree - TMB was just great!

I forgot to mention that before Todd Snider, we went ahead and set up our chairs to have good spots to watch Dave Matthews Band close the Mainstage. I had never seen Dave before, but had heard only good things...nothing could have prepared me for how awesome it was!

Dave Matthews Band probably had 20,000 people packed into the concert bowl (the biggest crowd I'd seen at a 10K yet...) and even the people in the very back could feel the emotion and energy they put out. The musicianship was second-to-none and just as much as I enjoyed Dave's singing and playing, I enjoyed his antics and dancing on stage. I don't know how 10KLF plans to top Dave next year.... It seemed like I was the only person in the world who hadn't seen DMB before and it's nice that I am now past that stage in my life, hehehe. The single coolest moment though was when they broke out into a cover of The Talking Heads "Burning Down the House." It was phenominal!

Would I call it the best 10KLF yet? Yes, but that's true after every one I've been too, hehehe. I really liked the variety of MN bands and of course, the national acts like DMB and Panic. The crowd was friendly, the weather was great and the music rocked... what more could we ask for? I know! A KAXE booth by the entrance to the Soo Pass Ranch next year...then it would be perfect...

Still to come, some highlight videos (as mentioned) and some amazing pictures taken by KAXE Photographer Forrest Ross (seriously, just wait 'til you see his pix!)