In high school, he was known as Doughty. In adulthood, he went by Hollywood. And from now until eternity, he will be known as an underappreciated architect of the Minneapolis Sound and one of the members of the legendary Grand Central band, who ruled the North Side of Minneapolis in the mid-1970s with members that […]
Anyone who had the opportunity to see Maurice McKinnies perform back in the 1960s seems to get the same starry-eyed look in their eyes when they remember back to seeing him live. “Maurice was the one,” Wanda Davis told me once, reflecting on her days singing back-up vocals in his band. “As they say, he’s […]
Today is International Women’s Day, and the Current is in the midst of a 24-long celebration of influential women artists — find our full day of programming here. As we spend the day reflecting on the issues facing women around the world, it got me thinking about all the incredible, pioneering artists who have broken […]
Watching Justin Timberlake play the halftime show at Super Bowl LII tonight in Minneapolis, some of us will be reminiscing about seeing him perform in the exact same spot — back when it was home to the Metrodome instead of U.S. Bank Stadium, and back when he was still a member of NSYNC. The boy […]
It turns out that the Science Museum isn’t the only Minnesota connection to the latest season of Stranger Things. A song from the Minneapolis new wave band Swing Set, “Blackout,” is featured in the second episode of season two, “Trick or Treat, Freak,” and can be heard playing over the car stereo of Charlie Heaton’s […]
Approximately 53 minutes after a solar eclipse darkened the skies of St. Paul and beckoned the entire city outside to gaze upward in awe, Grant Hart wandered into my cubicle and stood quietly behind me, smiling politely and nodding his head hello. His hands were tucked into the pockets of a dark navy suit coat, […]
These days it’s known as Key’s, one of a chain of diners in the metro area that serves up tuna melts, omelets, and slices of pie for hungry crowds. But for a brief time in the late 1960s, the south-facing space in the first floor of Minneapolis’s iconic Foshay Tower was home to a sweaty, […]
You ever hear a song so good that it actually makes you kind of mad? That’s what happened to me the first time I heard the Amazers and their song “It’s You For Me,” released nationally in 1967 on Curtis Mayfield’s Thomas Records. For starters, I couldn’t believe that a 45 steeped in such incredible […]
In the mid-2000s, Prince had returned to the mainstream spotlight in a way he hadn’t since the 1980s. His battle with his longtime label, Warner Bros., was over. He had reclaimed his birth name, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was living out in Los Angeles, throwing star-studded purple parties […]
The Twin Cities music community was dealt a hard blow this weekend with the passing of Sonny Knight, an endlessly charismatic and powerful soul singer whose history on local stages dates all the way back to the early 1960s. From cutting his first 45 as Little Sonny Knight back in 1965 to recording his final […]
