STILLWATER, Minn. (AP) - Stillwater city officials are asking organizers of a new summer music festival to change the name, saying it could be construed as vulgar.
City Administrator Larry Hansen emailed festival organizer Cassie McLemore on Thursday to request that the Stillwater Log Jam find another name, but McLemore called the request “ridiculous.”
McLemore told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the festival’s name fits with the city’s history of a logging community. She also said her group tried to lease the name “Lumberjack Days” from the nonprofit Lumberjack Days Festival Association but couldn’t reach an agreement.
Mayor Ken Harycki said a resident recently contacted him with concerns over the phrase.
“We were made aware - how can I put this delicately? - that the name was a vulgar reference that we would prefer not to have associated with a family event in the city,” Harycki said. “We don’t want to be the laughingstock of the nation.”
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Attendance for community orchestras and choruses increased steadily during the Minnesota Orchestra’s 15-month lockout.
Some music directors said they think the lockout triggered their increases, while others didn’t know the cause, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported (https://bit.ly/1aSG74khttps://bit.ly/1aSG74k ). But they agree that the silence from Orchestra Hall kindled a new appreciation of classical music.
Jennifer Anderson is music director at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. In December 2012, they sponsored a performance of Handel’s “Messiah.” She says attendance was incredible, even though the $40 ticket price was considered high.
She is also director of VocalPoint Chorus. That group’s annual concert in February 2013 drew 700, a big increase over the previous year.
“People were trying to find concerts to go to,” Anderson said.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Former Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has met with investigators hired by the team to independently assess allegations that an assistant coach made anti-gay comments.
Kluwe wrote in a Jan. 2 article on deadspin.com that coach Mike Priefer made comments because of Kluwe’s outspoken support of gay marriage rights.
Kluwe’s lawyer, Clayton Halunen, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press (https://bit.ly/1dYbehwhttps://bit.ly/1dYbehw ) that during a five-hour meeting Friday Kluwe identified kicker Blair Walsh and long snapper Cullen Loeffler as witnesses. Halunen also says there are corroborating text messages from Walsh.
Halunen says Kluwe met with director of player personnel Les Pico to complain before his May 2013 release. The team’s owners say they knew nothing of the allegations prior to Kluwe’s article.
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - A 24-year-old Minnesota native has been nominated for a Grammy for his work on a Taylor Swift album.
John Rausch was the recording engineer for the songs “Treacherous” and “Come Back, Be Here” on Swift’s recent hit record “Red,” according to the St. Cloud Times (https://on.sctimes.com/1eRJ1Hbhttps://on.sctimes.com/1eRJ1Hb ).
It’s one of five nominees for Album of the Year in the peer-centered competition that honors achievements in the recording arts.
Rausch grew up in Monticello and his parents now live in Little Falls. Rausch and his wife currently live in California.
Rausch came to work on Swift’s album through music producer Dan Wilson, whom he met while attending school in the Twin Cities. Wilson, also known as the lead singer of Minnesota band Semisonic, wrote the Grammy-nominated song “Closing Time” and other hits. Wilson has previously earned a Grammy for Album of the Year with Adele’s album “21” as well as a Song of the Year Grammy for “Not Ready to Make Nice” performed by the Dixie Chicks.
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