Minnesota Music Notes

Woodstock breakout Joe Cocker had just come off a U.S. tour and really needed a break. But his North American manager had different ideas. Britt Aamodt has the story of the first live performance at the Depot, the Minneapolis club opened in 1970 that would later become First Avenue. [Read Transcript...]

Nirvana had just come from a recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin, where the group made initial steps to record songs for a second album. Now, April 9, 1990, they were playing Minneapolis’ 7th Street Entry. Britt Aamodt offers a snapshot of the Seattle band on their way up, the year before their second album, Nevermind, … [Read Transcript...]

Mark Wojahn, artist and filmmaker, had been coming to First Avenue/Entry shows since he was in high school. But then in 1992 at a Buffalo Tom—or was it Beastie Boys?—concert in the Mainroom, he saw her. Who was she? Britt Aamodt shares Mark Wojahn’s First Avenue love story. [Read Transcript...]

By 1986, the Replacements had played First Avenue and the Entry more times than they could count. They’d grown up—as men and as musicians—there. Now they had to let one of their own go. Britt Aamodt has the story of guitarist Bob Stinson’s last hometown gig with the band. [Read Transcript...]