Jesse, Katie and Allie enjoyed a free outdoor concert by Thriving Ivory at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, NY, on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010. Jesse is a huge Thriving Ivory fan and had the chance to meet with the lead singer, Clayton Stroope, and guitarist, Drew Cribley, before the show.

Here we are with Honor Society before their concert. Nephew Andrew is on the right.

We got a chance to visit with our nephew, Andrew Lee, and his band, Honor Society, before their concert Tuesday night at the Varsity theater in Dinkytown. We had not met Andrew before, so it was good to finally put a face to all the stories we’ve been hearing from his Uncle Dave. Andrew and his bandmates couldn’t have been nicer and politely posed for pictures with us. The band put on a great show — Uncle Dave was right, these guys are very talented. I didn’t realize what a big deal they had become until I checked out their Facebook page and found the video of them singing the national anthem at the NFL Pro Bowl game. The band also sang the anthem at the Twins game on Wednesday. These guys are really on their way up. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter or, better yet, buy their music on iTunes. Tell them Uncle Art sent you….

Our nephew Andrew singing with Honor Society on Tuesday

Singer Michael Bruno performs with Honor Society

Outside the Varsity theater in Minneapolis before the show

Love this new video by Jack White and Dead Weather:

More photos from Saturday’s Selby Ave JazzFest, including Sounds of Blackness and Grammy-winning saxophonist Kim Waters.

Some photos from the eighth annual JazzFest in St. Paul. I was shooting the festival for the newsletters we publish in the city.

A youngster playing the drum on Selby between acts

One of the musicians practicing "backstage" -- behind the portable stage at Selby and Milton

The music had the crowd dancing in the streets

Headliner Kim Waters, multi-Grammy-winning saxophonist

The Original Wailers play the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 30, 2009

Laurie and I spent the day Aug. 30 at the Minnesota State Fair sans kids (both girls had better things to do than hang out at the fair with their parents, though we plan to go back on Labor Day, last day of the fair). I really wanted to go because the Original Wailers, Bob Marley‘s band, were playing a free show at the Leinie Lodge. The band, which included just two of the actual original Wailers, Al Anderson and Junior Marvin, did a great job with the Marley catalog, plus threw in one new original number for good measure. The set list, as captured by my Twitter feed:
UpWithTheMooses
8:38pm, Aug 30 from txt
Stir it up!

UpWithTheMooses
8:42pm, Aug 30 from txt
I shot the sheriff!

UpWithTheMooses
8:55pm, Aug 30 from txt
Get up stand up

UpWithTheMooses
8:56pm, Aug 30 from txt
Concrete jungle. What a show… #Thewailers

UpWithTheMooses
9:04pm, Aug 30 from txt
Natty dread. Irie! #thewailers at #mnstatefair

UpWithTheMooses
9:27pm, Aug 30 from txt
New original tune followed by We And Them then by Pimpers Paradise. #Thewailers #MNSTATEFAIR

UpWithTheMooses
9:28pm, Aug 30 from txt
Buffalo soldier #thewailer #mnstatefair

UpWithTheMooses
9:37pm, Aug 30 from txt
War #thewailers #mnstatefair no more war

UpWithTheMooses
9:44pm, Aug 30 from txt
Three little birds #thewailers #mnstatefair don’t worry about a thing — every little thing’s gonna be all right

UpWithTheMooses
9:47pm, Aug 30 from txt
Heathen #thewailers #mnstatefair my theme song. Howa

UpWithTheMooses
9:55pm, Aug 30 from txt
Jamming #thewailers #mnstatefair I and I will see you through

UpWithTheMooses
10:02pm, Aug 30 from txt
Encore number one: redemption song #thewailers #mnstatefair

UpWithTheMooses
10:11pm, Aug 30 from txt
Encore number two: exodus #thewailers #mnstatefair movement of jah people

Better than a Pronto Pup or a Nut Roll on a stick!

One of the highlights of the fair, for me at least, was the Summit Beer on a stick, a flight of three Summits — Extra Pale Ale, Oktoberfest and Horizon Red Ale — served on a wooden paddle. Mmmm mmm. Above is a picture of me enjoying my favorite fair treat. Thanks, Mr. Stutrud. You the (beer) man!

Photo originally posted by humanflowerproject.com

Bill mentioned the playlist I loaded up on my iPod for the trip to Brooklyn Park Saturday for the Ghost Wings Challenge (read all about it here and here). The playlist was heavy with songs from my iTunes database that contained the words “Fire,” “Burn” and “Ghost,” with a few others like “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” thrown in for their predictive appropriateness. Here is the list, in case you are curious. Rock on.

Elvis Costello and the Imposters

Unbelievable show this evening by Elvis Costello at Taste of Minnesota. He dug deep into his archive for hits from just about every album. Highlights were “Radio Sweetheart” (with Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Says” thrown into the middle), “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” “Monkey to Man,” a hopping new tune called “Sulphur To Sugarcane” a truly amazing “Watching the Detectives,” and the phenomenal encore of “Alison” and “What’s So Funny (‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding)?”

We got to the festival early in the afternoon to watch The Vogues, which got rained out halfway through. Walked around looking at junk for sale, checked out Uncle Chunk’s show, then settled in for a short set by new talent Kate Voegele. Nice voice and easy on the eyes. Not a bad combination. Ate some overpriced fair food at the booths before the big event. Had a pretty good vantage point right in the center, just outside the paid seats. Elvis kept beckoning the crowd to come inside the barricades and sit in the paid seats, but the security bruisers kept taking ‘em down and hauling ‘em out when they tried.

While Elvis played, I kept remembering Mary Kay Lambert’s pool party in Virginia Beach back in 1978. I went into her house and took the record that was playing off the turntable (I think it was Frampton Comes Alive) and I put on My Aim is True, which I had just plunked own a cool $4.99 for at the record store. There were many shouts of protests, until Elvis revved into “Welcome to the Working Week,” followed by “Miracle Man.” By the time we got to the end of side 1, people were jumping. They had to hear side 2 of this record that sounded like nothing we had ever heard before. As you can see, Elvis and I go back a ways.

Tonight, Elvis was in fine form, both in voice and guitar-playing. He rocked for close to two hours, barely pausing between songs. When you have more than three decades of hits and you’re still making new, relevant music, it’s a real race to get through your catalog in one two-hour show.

This will have to go down as one of my top 10 concerts of all time. Yes, I enjoyed it that much. Sorry, Jeni, you missed a great one.

Kate Voegele, my new favorite singer.

Jo, Di and Leah perform Riding Free from Joanne’s new album, Bitter Tears Sacred Ground, a tribute to Johnny Cash, Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman, and Peter LaFarge, at the Fond du Lac Reservation on June 28:

Here it is, as promised, the world premier of Joanne Shenandoah‘s live video of “I May Want a Man,” a song made famous in the show “Northern Exposure” and my favorite song by Jo. Note the crappy weather at Fond du Lac — the rain really started to pour shortly after this song was over. Enjoy: