I personally want to thank my fellow festival organizers for all the hard work they have put in these past nine months. There is no way this festival runs smoothly without a dedicated staff of talented individuals.

This was truly an awesome experience. Every smile from both the audience and from the stage made all the work worthwhile. Now let us all continue to keep the Homegrown spirit alive by supporting the work of our local artists and performers who continue to share their work all year long.

We’ll see you next year for the 15th annual Homegrown Music Festival.

Sincerely,
Festival Director,
Walt ‘Dizzo’ Raschick

Mary Bue (photo by acrossthewire.org)

The day after. Just when it seemed that everyone was safe, there’s one more day of Homegrown bliss. You can start by going to Pizza Lucé for some brunch, music and a bloody Mary if you’re in need of sustenance. For those who missed the encore, Chester Creek Café will be screening the Homegrown Music Video Festival one last time in its basement theater at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile the only officially family-friendly set of the entire Homegrown Music Festival will be well underway. The little ones are sure to appreciate Mary Bue’s set at noon; she agreed to write a set full of children’s songs just for this gig. At 2 p.m. Taste the Feeling closes out the Sacred Heart show with Homegrown’s youngest performer. The trio’s piano and guitar player, Anika Fernholz, is 7 years old.

The light at the end of the tunnel appears when Club Saratoga opens its famous doors to the Homegrown festival for the very first time in history. It’s being done up right with an avant garde set that will guarantee maximum weirdness. We’re told Todd Gremmels will debut part of the rock opera he’s working on. Then the jazz beats of Strange Meeting lead the way to the final act of Homegrown — the Silk Sheiks.

“All three bands are different, and they’ll all make the stage their own,” festival director Walter Raschick says of the ’Toga show. “That’s kind of what Homegrown is all about.”

All events for Sunday May 6, 2012

Chester Creek Café Theater

• 2 p.m. | Homegrown Music Video Festival encore #2

Pizza Lucé

• 11 a.m. | Adam Sippola
• 12 p.m. | Four Mile Portage

Sacred Heart Music Center

• 12 p.m. | Mary Bue
• 1 p.m. | Matt Wahl
• 2 p.m. | Taste the Feeling

Club Saratoga

• 1:30 p.m. | Todd Gremmels
• 2:30 p.m. | Strange Meeting
• 3:30 p.m. | The Silk Sheiks

After you take a mimosa nap, break-dance over to the Prøve Gallery for the opening reception of the art show Saturday Morning Cartoons. Artists and enthusiasts will be celebrating the urban side of art, including street stenciling, graffiti and cartooning, starting at 7 p.m. DJ J.J. Lawrence will be on the ones and twos, spinning jams to add to the overall atmosphere inside the gallery. Jeredt Runions is organizing this exhibit in hopes to “highlight the area’s vibrant youth street culture.”

With nearly 50 bands performing throughout the day, Saturday is traditionally Homegrown’s most thorough endurance test. The festival’s 12-person steering committee worked hard to put together exciting, nontraditional sets, fitting bands together like a giant Homegrown jigsaw puzzle.

“We do our best to put bands that make sense, but don’t usually play together, at the same venue,” Raschick says.

That much is clear when looking at the set for the Rex Bar at Fitger’s — a calculated progression that starts off with dub music, on to Retribution Gospel Choir, followed by reggae and finishing with Teague Alexy. This was no accident.

All events for Saturday May 5, 2012

Chester Creek Café Wine Bar

• 10 a.m. | Pre-Kickball Mimosa Party
• 10:30 a.m. | So Close

Chester Bowl Park

• Noon | Homegrown Kickball Classic

Beaner’s Central

• 6:15 p.m. | Rosebud Social
• 7:15 p.m. | Lions&Creators
• 8:15 p.m. | Malec

Sacred Heart Music Center

• 6:30 p.m. | The Murder of Crows
• 7:30 p.m. | Yester
• 8:30 p.m. | Marc Gartman’s Fever Dream

Prøve Gallery

• 7 p.m. | Opening reception for Saturday Morning Cartoons art exhibit w/music by DJ jjlawrence

Amazing Grace Bakery & Café

• 7 p.m. | Jim Hall
• 8 p.m. | Actual Wolf
• 9 p.m. | Ultra Day

Teatro Zuccone

• 7 p.m. | A Winter Downpour
• 8 p.m. | Aurora and Her Good Intentions
• 9 p.m. | The Thunder Brothers

Legacy Glassworks

• 7:15 p.m. | Mr. Kickass
• 8:15 p.m. | Peer Precious
• 9:15 p.m. | Fours

R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon

• 9 p.m. | Electric Graveyard Afterlife
• 10 p.m. | The Moon Is Down
• 11 p.m. | The Surfactants
• 12 a.m. | Bratwurst

Pizza Lucé

• 9:30 p.m. | Phil Jents and the Farsights
• 10:30 p.m. | The Low Forms
• 11:30 p.m. | The Alrights
• 12:30 a.m. | Two Many Banjos

Rex Bar at Fitger’s

• 9:30 p.m. | DJ Supreme Rokka Hi-Fi
• 10:30 p.m. | Retribution Gospel Choir
• 11:30 p.m. | Prince Paul and the Conscious Party
• 12:30 a.m. | Teague Alexy

Twins Bar

• 9:45 p.m. | Modern Gentlemen
• 10:45 p.m. | Good Knight
• 11:45 p.m. | The Resonance

Carmody Irish Pub

• 9:45 p.m. | Markus J. Dandy & the Complete Lack Thereof
• 10:45 p.m. | Steven Johnson
• 11:45 p.m. | Jason Wussow and Friends

Sir Benedict’s Tavern

• 9:45 p.m. | Somewhere But Who
• 10:45 p.m. | Breanne Marie with Evan Tepler
• 11:45 p.m. | Lookdown Moon

Fitger’s Brewhouse

• 10 p.m. | Sweetgrass
• 11 p.m. | Timber & Steel
• 12 a.m. | Bill Flannagan

Lake Avenue Café

• 10 p.m. | Atlas Mts.
• 11 p.m. | Words to a Film Score
• 12 a.m. | The People Say Fox

Tycoons Alehouse

• 10:15 p.m. | Jaze w/DJ Delgado
• 11:15 p.m. | Fred Tyson Funk Tsunami
• 12:15 a.m. | The Tisdales

Roscoe’s Pioneer Bar

• 10:15 p.m. | Triplekoin
• 11:15 p.m. | Dirty Horse
• 12:15 a.m. | The Fontanelles

Red Star Lounge

• 10:15 p.m. | DJ Path Annu
• 11:15 p.m. | DJs The Crunchy Bunch
• 12:15 a.m. | DJ Nola

Now that you’ve appreciated your fair share of fine art for the day, you must press on and keep music on the mind. And there’s plenty to be had tonight, with shows spread like a rash all over downtown Duluth’s Homegrown hotspots. Venues range in nature from Harbor  City Int’l School Theater to Legacy Glassworks, so surely you can find the best of all worlds.

If the cloning thing doesn’t work out, remember to mark your Homegrown treasure maps with three Xs over the Fitger’s Brewing Complex that night, as shows will be happening at Rex Bar, Fitger’s Brewhouse and Red Star Lounge. If you don’t care to see the famous Crew Jones banjones-ing at the  Rex in the wee hours of the morning you have ice water running through your veins.

All events for Friday May 4, 2012

Beaner’s Central

• 5 p.m. | Opening reception for Abstract Obscure I art exhibit
• 6:15 p.m. | Greg Tiburzi
• 7:15 p.m. | The Ghosts of Swinetown
• 8:15 p.m. | The Bitter Spills

Ochre Ghost Gallery

• 6 p.m. | Opening reception for Abstract Obscure II art exhibit

Harbor City Int’l School Theater

• 6:30 p.m. | Bliss & Sitter
• 7:30 p.m. | The Cancer Romancer’s Quivering Liver
• 8:30 p.m. | Sing! A Women’s Chorus

Amazing Grace Bakery & Café

• 7 p.m. | Robi Meyerson
• 8 p.m. | Stel & Lefty
• 9 p.m. | First Class Failure

Teatro Zuccone

• 7 p.m. | Colleen Myhre
• 8 p.m. | Three Song Sunday
• 9 p.m. | Emily Jayne

Legacy Glassworks

• 7:15 p.m. | DJ Bob Monahan & MC Auntie Flow
• 8:15 p.m. | Kathy McTavish
• 9:15 p.m. | Kritical Kontact

R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon

• 9 p.m. | Ty Cobb
• 10 p.m  | Cowards
• 11 p.m. | KeyPortal
• 12 a.m. | The Keep Aways

Pizza Lucé

• 9:30 p.m. | James & Younger
• 10:30 p.m. | Snöbarn
• 11:30 p.m. | Portrait of a Drowned Man
• 12:30 a.m. | The Acceleratii

Rex Bar at Fitger’s

• 9:30 p.m. | Remote Viewfinder
• 10:30 p.m. | The Horror
• 11:30 p.m. | Auruphis
• 12:30 a.m. | Crew Jones

Sir Benedict’s Tavern

• 9:45 p.m. | Uncle Kenny
• 10:45 p.m. | Next of Kin
• 11:45 p.m. | Diet Folk

Twins Bar

• 9:45 p.m. | The Formal Age
• 10:45 p.m. | Xhaust
• 11:45 p.m. | LongHammer

Carmody Irish Pub

• 9:45 p.m.  | Tangier 57
• 10:45 p.m  | Poor Howard
• 11:45 p.m. | Group Too

Fitger’s Brewhouse

• 10 p.m. | Vintage Val
• 11 p.m. | Toby Thomas Churchill
• 12 a.m. | The Branditos

Lake Avenue Café

• 10 p.m. | Ian Thomas Alexy and the Deserters
• 11 p.m. | Bird By Bird
• 12 a.m. | The Blasphemists

Tycoons Alehouse

• 10:15 p.m. | Southwire
• 11:15 p.m. | Uprising
• 12:15 a.m. | The Iron Range Outlaw Brigade

Roscoe’s Pioneer Bar

• 10:15 p.m. | Manheat
• 11:15 p.m. | DTs
• 12:15 a.m. | Circa A.M.

Red Star Lounge

• 10:15 p.m. | DJ Delgado
• 11:15 p.m. | DJ J Peach
• 12:15 a.m. | DJ Dyami Tsunami

Letisha Rice

Cross the bridge if you dare and experience the appropriately titled Soup Town art show at the Red Mug Coffeehouse in Superior at 6 p.m. Artists who are working, living, studying and creating across the harbor will showcase just what they’ve been up to over in that strange foreign land. The goal of the exhibit is to show the broad, unique spectrum of visual artistic talent the city of Superior has to offer.

“This show consists of a wide variety of artists and styles all displaying their talents and inspiration,” says Jeredt Runions, who is coordinating the various art shows for Homegrown. Artists with work on display include Anndrea Ploeger, Molly Martin, Letisha Rice, Tiffany Wang and Kaoru Midorikawa.

Stick around Soup Town until 9 p.m. for music at Bev’s Jook Joint, Norm’s Beer and Brats, the Main Club, and Thirsty Pagan Brewing until way past your bedtime. Also, don’t forget to clone yourself in order to attend shows going down at the very same time back in Duluth at Chester Creek Wine Bar and Burrito Union. Just make  sure your evil twin doesn’t end up taking over Homegrown in order to create a dystopian musical hell.

All events for Thursday May 3, 2012

Red Mug Coffeehouse

• 6 p.m. | Opening reception for Soup Town art exhibit
• 6:30 p.m. |  Suzy Q
• 7:30 p.m. | Humanoid

Bev’s Jook Joint

• 8:30 p.m. | Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses
• 9:30 p.m. | Phillip of Nazareth
• 10:30 p.m. | Hard Feelings

Chester Creek Wine Bar

• 9 p.m. | Emily Haavik
• 10 p.m. | The Tico Three

Burrito Union

• 9:30 p.m. | Malibu High
• 10:30 p.m. | Bryan Olds Band
• 11:30 p.m. | Biochemical Characters

Norm’s Beer & Brats

• 9:30 p.m. | Don’t Sweat September
• 10:30 p.m. | Sexhawk
• 11:30 p.m. | Junkboat
• 12:30 a.m. | The Half Hearts

Thirsty Pagan Brewing

• 9:45 p.m. | Portage
• 10:45 p.m. | The What Four
• 11:45 p.m. | Ryan Van Slooten

The Main Club

• 10:15 p.m. | Fearless Moral Inventory
• 11:15 p.m. | The Cutthroats
• 12:15 a.m. | Cars & Trucks

The upper-level of Clyde Iron Works will be used for Homegrown for the very first time, with an interesting mix of artists sharing the stage for late-night shows. Turtleheads should be sure to stick around, as the upstairs shows start just after TBT finishes up. Across town, R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon will be hosting an uncharacteristic weekday show, while the Red Star Lounge keeps the martini glasses rattling with endless DJ’ed beats.

Not ready to end your humpday yet? Festival director Walter Raschick wants to remind everyone that he and Homegrown’s steering committee openly encourage the unofficial happenings going on throughout the week — basement shows, mime troops, preserved-duck-egg eating contests and whatever other weirdo shenanigans ensue.

“People are not done partying at 1 a.m. when the music stops,” Raschick says. “We fully endorse any artist getting involved in whatever ways they can think of.”

Just don’t confuse the word “endorse” with the phrase “accept legal responsibility for.”

All events for Wednesday May 2, 2012

Clyde Iron Works – Banquet Room

• 7 p.m. | Equal Xchange
• 8 p.m. | Father Hennepin
• 9 p.m. | Trampled By Turtles

Fitger’s Brewhouse

• 9:30 p.m. | Deja vu Drifters
• 10:30 p.m. | Sarah Krueger

Clyde Iron Works – Upper Level

• 10 p.m. | Gallus
• 11 p.m. | Legitimit
• 12 a.m. | Charity Huot and the Summit Hill Band

R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon

• 10 p.m. | Soma
• 11 p.m. | Good Colonels
• 12 a.m. | Batteries

Red Star Lounge

• 11 p.m. | Danecdote
• 12 a.m. | DJ Horsefist

The Music Resource Center Duluth is a pilot program modeled after similar programs in Charlottesville, Va. and Cincinnati, Ohio. Sessions are held at Sacred Heart Music Center, where kids in grades 6-12 have the opportunity to attend after school, getting mentored by local artists, sound engineers and industry professionals such as Alan Sparhawk of Low fame and Eric “Swansonian Institute” Swanson.

Students learn every aspect of the music industry while writing songs, learning instruments, recording, performing live, and even developing a stage presence. Crystal Pelkey leads this progressive program and has big plans for its future.

“These kids get a chance to work with and be mentored by some of the most respected professional musicians in the area,” says Pelkey. “They get to learn everything there is to know. I wish this was around when I was a kid.”

Students in this real-life school of rock go through an eightweek stint, meeting three times a week.

Three standout bands from the program will be showcased this Homegrown Tuesday in an effort to shed light on their hard work and hard rawk. And for all you little ones plucking away at your dad’s five-stringed acoustic guitar in the basement, the Music Resource Center is already accepting rockers for the next phase of the program, starting on April 2.

You thought that was it? Silly chicken, the beat goes on with music on the Hillside at Sacred Heart Music Center and Twins Bar, and in Canal Park at Lake Avenue Café and Grandma’s Sports Garden. Study the schedule and particularly take note of the lineup at the Sports Garden; this may be the most power-packed Tuesday night in Duluth music history.

All events for Tuesday May 1, 2012

Teatro Zuccone

• 5:30 p.m. | Homegrown Music Video Festival encore #1
• 7 p.m. | Brown Eye Blue Eye (Music Resource Center Showcase)
• 8 p.m. | Excuse Me, Princess (Music Resource Center Showcase)
• 9 p.m. | Presently Skyward (Music Resource Center Showcase)

Sacred Heart Music Center

• 7 p.m. | Bill Reichelt
• 8 p.m. | Lion or Gazelle
• 9 p.m. | Aaron Gall & the Likely Story

Lake Avenue Café

• 9:15 p.m. | I, The Sky
• 10:15 p.m. | The Adjustments

Twins Bar

• 9:30 p.m. | American Rebels
• 10:30 p.m. | This Is Now
• 11:30 p.m. | Strictly Hammers

Grandma’s Sports Garden

• 9:30 p.m. | Hattie and Her Man Band
• 10:30  p.m. | The Boomchucks
• 11:30  p.m. | Big Wave Dave & the Ripples
• 12:30  a.m. | The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank

Dave Moreira, a.k.a. SkatRadioh, will be showcasing his art at the exhibit, consisting mostly of poster work done for local house shows.

“When I moved to Duluth I surrounded myself with artists and musicians,” Moreira says. “Creating poster art for the housevenue circuit is a very unique, intimate place to share ideas and feelings with the people who see it. I’m not a musical performer, but the art gives me a chance to share the stage with many of my friends and musicians that I respect.”

Other artists in the show include Andrew Perfetti, Matt Stengl, Tommy Kronquist and Jason Kokal.

For another Homegrown take on photography get to the Duluth Photography Institute at 5 p.m. for its show, Local Walk. Photos here will take you on a visual stroll through Duluth, with local artists’ lenses standing in as your pictorial pupils. Staring is inevitable with= work from Ryan Tischer, Jeremiah Brown, Gage Salyards, Christina Micheletti and Anne Woster.

The Homegrown Music Video Festival begins when random renegade filmmakers are randomly- assigned a random song submitted from a random Homegrown band. The randomly resulting music videos will be screened for the first time at Zinema 2 at 6p.m. Before you start throwing elbows to get to the front of the ticket line, know there are encores throughout the rest of the week.

Bring out your inner beatnik by coming to Teatro Zuccone at 7:30 p.m. for the Homegrown Poetry Showcase, complete with musical accompaniment by Jesse Hoheisel, Kathy McTavish, and Richie Townsend. Poets dropping rhymes and knowledge include Sheila Packa, Gary Boelhower, Yvonne Rutford, Liz Minette, Trevor Kaldor, Parnell Thill, Paul Lundgren, Mary Bue, Jen Derrick, Tera Freese, Jasmine Baumgart, Devin McKinnon, Nathan Ness, Bob Monahan and Kyle Elden. The event is coordinated by Elden, who is board chair of the Lake Superior Writers, a group that supports writers and fosters the area’s vibrant literary community.

All events for Monday April 30, 2012

Zeitgeist Building Atrium

• 4 p.m. | Opening reception for Homegrown Photo Show: Rent Money! art exhibit

Duluth Photography Institute

• 5 p.m. | Opening Reception for Local Walk art exhibit

Zinema 2

• 6 p.m. | Homegrown Music Video Festival

Teatro Zuccone

• 7:30 p.m. | Homegrown Poetry Showcase w/ musical accompaniment by Jesse Hoheisel, Kathy McTavish and Richie Townsend

Carmody Irish Pub

• 8 p.m. | Hannah Rey
• 9 p.m. | Dead Guys
• 10 p.m. | Coyote
• 11 p.m. | A Band Called Truman

R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon

• 9:30 p.m. | Wyatt Famous
• 10:30 p.m. | The Undesirables
• 11:30 p.m. | Roxie Magistrate

Live from Studio A sessions

Monday, April 30

• 1pm  | Dead Guys
• 2pm  | Gallus

Tuesday, May 1

• 2pm  | James & Younger

Wedneday, May 2

• 2pm  | Trampled by Turtles

Thursday, May 3

• 12pm | Emily Haavik

Friday, May 4

• 1pm  | Aurora Baer

Local Download of the Day at kumd.org
Monday through Friday next week KUMD will offer a different download from a local band each day.

Since the “calm before the storm” is for procrastinators, we skip it entirely this year and get right into the thick of it. At 5 p.m. the Duluth Art Institute will hold its opening reception for the Homegrown: Visual Arts Edition exhibit. The collection will be focused on the visual arts ephemera related to Homegrown music — album art, gig posters, flyers, oh my! A little chicken even told us there might be an antique wristband from the very first Homegrown on display.

Krista Suchy, the exhibit’s curator, will speak on her efforts in putting the work together. As with any good speech, beer, wine and cheese will follow. Tim Kaiser will begin blowing our minds playing his space-age machines in the same space starting at 6 p.m., with Brian Barber’s artwork acting as the backdrop.

After getting full on beer, cheese and experimental music, Homegrowners will have a chance to test their I.Q. at Carmody Irish Pub come 9 p.m. The “high stakes” Homegrown Pub Quiz will be complete with prizes that are sure to astound. “I like to refer to them as fantastic,” says Carmody bartender Devin McKinnon, who will be doing his best to stump us all. Make sure to brush the cobwebs off those dusty Homegrown memories, as questions will all be based on the festival past and present.

While crafting your buzz don’t forget about the fresh batch of Homegrown Hempen Ale that will be flowing like a waterfall inside Tycoons Alehouse at 7 p.m. Mayor Don Ness will be in the house to say a few words, followed by music and Hempen Ales to your heart’s content. The traditional “New Band Night” hoopla continues this year at Pizza Lucé. Although the titles of the various nights of Homegrown have been done away with this year, the lineup at the Looch was still put together as a showcase of bands that have recently formed.

All events for Sunday April 29, 2012

Duluth Art Institute

• 5 p.m. | Opening reception for Homegrown: Visual Arts Edition art exhibit

Duluth Art Institute – Morrison Gallery

• 6 p.m. | Tim Kaiser

Carmody Irish Pub

• 9 p.m. | Homegrown Pub Quiz
• 10:15 p.m. | Billy Southern
• 11:15 p.m. | Five Pints a’ Rye

Tycoons Alehouse

• 7 p.m. | Homegrown Hempen Ale Cask Release
• 8 p.m. | Mayor’s Proclamation
• 9:30 p.m. | The Underwriters
• 10:30 p.m. | Bradical Boombox
• 11:30 p.m. | The Brothers Burn Mountain

Pizza Lucé

• 10 p.m. | The 13th Choir
• 11 p.m. | Planemo
• 12 a.m. | Bull Feathers