Ruth Adams and the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band are a senior citizen polka duet who use a rotation of four different drummers. Adams founded the group in 1974, with Joe Hayden joining in 1996. They received national attention when they appeared on the short-lived Comedy Central series Let's Bowl . [1]
The group consists of Adams on accordion, accompanied by Hayden on trumpet and lead vocals, with the rotation of drummers using a simple snare drum and high-hat percussion setup. Al Ophus was the full-time percussionist until his death in 2003 at the age of 88. [2] His drums are now on display at the Minnesota Historical Society. [3]
According to the band's website, they play "a mix of Polkas, Waltz's [sic], Foxtrots [sic], Country, Latin, and a little Dixieland." During their Let's Bowl appearances, Adams and company played suggestive polka tunes like "She Smoked My Cigar" and "I Told Her No".
They got their start, [4] and still play every Friday and Saturday, at Nye's Polonaise (better known as Nye's Polka Lounge) in northeast Minneapolis. [5] Since the close of Nye's Polonaise, the Polka Band has performed at Can Can Wonderland in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Ruth Adams died March 18, 2011, at Hennepin County Medical Center after her battle with cancer. [6]
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall.
The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene in the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists/guitarists/songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson, their country rock sound was influential on many bands who played the Twin Cities circuit during the 1980s and 1990s, such as Uncle Tupelo, the Gear Daddies and the Honeydogs. They have released eleven studio albums, with and without Olson, including five on the American Recordings label. After going on hiatus from 2005 to 2009, the 1995 lineup of the band reunited and released the album Mockingbird Time in September 2011; Olson left the band for the second time after the tour to promote the album. After another hiatus in 2013, the 1997 lineup led by Louris reunited to play shows in 2014 to support the reissue of three albums originally released between 1997 and 2003. Since then, the band has continued to tour and record, releasing the albums Live at The Belly Up in 2015; Paging Mr. Proust, co-produced by Peter Buck, in 2016; Back Roads and Abandoned Motels in 2018; and XOXO in 2020.
The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Métis fur-trading voyageurs introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
Hüsker Dü was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, in 1979. The band's continuous members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notability as a hardcore punk band, and later crossed over into alternative rock. Mould and Hart were the band's principal songwriters, with Hart's higher-pitched vocals and Mould's baritone taking the lead in alternating songs.
Mason Jennings is an American folk-pop singer-songwriter.
Let's Bowl is a scripted bowling game show that aired on the Comedy Central television network from 2001 to 2002 after a brief run on several TV stations across the U.S. in the mid-1990s, the first three being Minneapolis-St. Paul stations: KXLI-TV 41, KLGT-TV 23, and KARE channel 11.
The Suburbs are an alternative punk rock/funk/new wave band from Minneapolis, Minnesota that was popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. The band frequently headlined at Minneapolis's most influential music clubs, including Jay's Longhorn Bar and First Avenue.
Grant Vernon Hart was an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-songwriter for the punk rock band Hüsker Dü. After the band's breakup in 1988, he released his first solo album Intolerance before forming the alternative rock trio Nova Mob, where he moved to vocals and guitar. His solo career became his main focus after the dissolution of Nova Mob in 1997.
Michael Bland is an American musician best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for seven years.
The Gear Daddies are a rock band originally from Austin, Minnesota. Randy Broughten, Nick Ciola (bass), Billy Dankert, and Martin Zellar played their first shows together in 1984. They released singles and albums between 1986 and 1992 and became an important part of the Twin Cities music scene. Most songs were written by Zellar, but Dankert had several of note, including crowd favorite "Time Heals".
Lifter Puller, or LFTR PLLR, was an American indie rock band from the Twin Cities and the Boston area between 1994 and 2000. Their music is considered innovative, with its angular riffs and a synth-infused sound that predated the '80s revival fads of the early 2000s. Arguably, however, the band is most known for frontman Craig Finn's elaborate lyrics, which often relied upon an established universe of drug-addled college students, cash-strapped nightclub proprietors, murdered ravers and other nostalgic excursions in Minneapolis and Boston.
Tapes 'n Tapes is an indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Chaska Senior High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Chaska, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. CHS is a 9–12 grade school that is attended by more than 1,500 students.
Brian Glascock is an English rock drummer for The Gods, Toe Fat, Carmen, Captain Beyond, Soy Cowboy, and primarily for The Motels. He also played on albums by Dolly Parton, Iggy Pop, and Joan Armatrading. He performed in a music video with Nancy Wilson of Heart. He has also performed much session work including The Bee Gees track "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", along with fellow Juniors guitarist Alan Kendall. He was also the drummer for The Kids of Widney High and played on their second album, "Let's Get Busy."
The University of Minnesota Marching Band is the marching band of the University of Minnesota and the flagship university band for the state of Minnesota. The Pride of Minnesota serves as an ambassador for the university, representing the school at major events both on and off campus. The band performs before, during, and after all home Golden Gopher football games and bowl games, occasional away games, local parades, numerous pepfests, exhibition performances, as well as a series of indoor concerts toward the end of the regular football season. Members of the band, along with non-member students, also participate in smaller athletic pep bands that perform at other major sporting events, including men's hockey, men's basketball, women's hockey, women's basketball, and women's volleyball.
Stephen B. Foley was an American drummer who played for Curtiss A, Things That Fall Down, The Replacements, Bash & Pop, Wheelo, and several other bands in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He played live for the most part, but he recorded with songwriter Peter Lack, and he appears in a Replacements video, "When It Began," which received two 1991 MTV Video Music Awards nominations.
Jeffrey D. Hayden is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 62, which includes portions of south Minneapolis in Hennepin County in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
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Boiled in Lead is a rock/world-music band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded in 1983. Tim Walters of MusicHound Folk called the group "the most important folk-rock band to appear since the 1970s." Influential record producer and musician Steve Albini called the band's self-titled first album "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year." Their style, sometimes called "rock 'n' reel," is heavily influenced by Celtic music, folk, and punk rock, and has drawn them praise as one of the few American bands of the 1980s and 1990s to expand on Fairport Convention's rocked-up take on traditional folk. Folk Roots magazine noted that Boiled in Lead's "folk-punk" approach synthesized the idealistic and archival approach of 1960s folk music with the burgeoning American alternative-rock scene of the early 1980s typified by Hüsker Dü and R.E.M. The band also incorporates a plethora of international musical traditions, including Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Scottish, Vietnamese, Hungarian, African, klezmer, and gypsy music. Boiled in Lead has been hailed as a pioneering bridge between American rock and international music, and a precursor to Gogol Bordello and other gypsy-punk bands. While most heavily active in the 1980s and 1990s, the group is still performing today, including annual St. Patrick's Day concerts in Minneapolis. Over the course of its career, Boiled in Lead has released nearly a dozen albums and EPs, most recently 2012's The Well Below.