Minnesota Music Notes: Stories from First Avenue | celebrating noteworthy artists, people and moments that shaped the history of Minnesota’s Mainroom First Avenue
Minnesota Music Notes: Seasons 1 & 2 | celebrating noteworthy songs, artists, and musical performances from Minnesota
REM had yet to release an album. They were touring the U.S. on the strength of their first single, “Radio Free Europe”, and here they were in Minneapolis for a show at Sam’s (later First Avenue) on Thanksgiving in a blizzard. Britt Aamodt finds out what happened to the up-and-coming band when the headliner canceled.
Curt Almstead, known in the Twin Cities music scene as Curtiss A, couldn’t believe it. Some deranged man had just shot John Lennon dead. Almstead wanted to do something to remember the artist whose band, the Beatles, had meant so much to him. Britt Aamodt explores the origins of First Avenue’s annual John Lennon Tribute.