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Apparently the Jayhawks show wasn't as much fun for some people as it was for us. We were half-horrified, half-amused to find this Craigslist Missed Connection last night (thanks to our pal Robyn Lewis) from one of the band's unluckiest fans, who had to leave the show last night before the band came on stage.

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Photos by Steve Cohen

​The Jayhawks
January 29 and 30, 2011
First Avenue, Minneapolis

After easing into their set on Saturday night, the Jayhawks were off and running for a two-night stand that found them finishing with a double-encore on Sunday evening and looking hesitant to leave the stage that they've gotten so apt at dominating these past two years.

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Photos by Stacy Schwartz - click for slideshow

Eric Lovold

​Heroes: A Benefit for Local Recording Artists (with the Alarmists, Brian DeRemer, Chris Koza, Kicks and Spurs, White Light Riot, and DJ Solid Gold)
January 28, 2011
Varsity Theater, Minneapolis

Little more than a month after that atrocious break-in at Alarmists frontman Eric Lovold's home-based Instrument Control Studios--you know, the one that took place on Christmas Eve, resulting in the loss of over $25k worth of equipment--it would seem that the Twin Cities' music community is fully swinging in support of one of its own.

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Photos by Nikki Miller

​Charlie Parr with Jeff Mitchell
January 29, 2011
Hell's Kitchen, Minneapolis

When Hell's Kitchen moved its location into the garden-level space formerly occupied by Rossi's a couple years ago, it not only gained more room for tables and booths as well as a new dinner menu, but also found itself with ample space to accommodate more live music on a generously-sized stage, with plenty of room for fans to stand (or dance, as Charlie Parr fans are wont to do) amidst the seated diners. On Saturday night, we checked out the (no longer very new) digs, and took in a performance by Parr.

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Photo by Autumn Compton

Sick performing "Purple and Gold"

​Twin Cities Hip-Hop Awards with Maria Isa, I Self Devine, No Bird Sing and more
January 28, 2011
First Avenue Mainroom

The Twin Cities Hip-Hop Awards is kind of an odd event. On Friday night, the First Avenue mainroom was full of hip-hop fans recognizing the Twin Cities' strong scene, and the crowd was one of the most diverse I've ever seen at a local rap event--it's a rare occurrence to have the critical darlings and the underexposed rap acts together with their supporters in one place. 

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​We're pretty damn excited about this weekend's back-to-back Jayhawks shows at First Avenue, which will find the reunited band revisiting their two most seminal albums, Tomorrow the Green Grass and Hollywood Town Hall.

In anticipation of the shows this weekend, we thought it would be fun to see just how many bands we could connect to the current and past members of the Jayhawks. This isn't a comprehensive chart by any means, but rather a starting point for those who may not know how much the Jayhawks of past and present are intertwined into our sometimes incestuous local scene and can be traced to larger mainstream bands -- including, yes, the Jonas Brothers.


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Anna Gulbrandsen

Worth $70?

​DJ Tiesto is coming to Roy Wilkins auditorium for Sound In Motion on April 1 for $60-70 a head, and no, that is not an April Fool's joke in advance. Lady Gaga tickets last year were over $100, as were tickets to see Elton John and the James Taylor/Carole King double bill. We'd hardly put Tiesto in such company.

Sound In Motion founder and longtime electronic music promoter Jack Trash disagrees and says Tiesto is a new kind of rockstar.
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Rob Swire of Pendulum

​It's kind of hard to tell what year should be written on drum and bass's headstone since its influences are still so obvious in electronic and fringe genres. Standing on its own, DNB pulled the most muscle in the late '90s, back when duo Pendulum were just beginning their journey as producer/remixers. By updating their sound over the last five years by fusing it with rock and metal, the pair came squinting from out of the underground and ripping through on 2008's In Silico (which producer Rob Swire now tells us he hated). 

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