Hotel Minnesnowta, the Twin Cities’ annual mid-winter live music hotel festival in its fourth year, kicks off with its pre-party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Minneapolis West in Plymouth Thursday.
The pre-party jam-funk double header of TWINE and Duluth’s Saltydog is a no-miss for me. Both of these bands are talented beyond their short years as bands, and they represent the future of improvisational rock in our fair state.
The three-day Hotel Minnesnowta tops Jam in the Stream’s weekly roundup of live music, but there are other options I’ll outline below.
While much of the diverse and deep lineup features local acts, the organizers managed to land drummer/producer Jeff Franca of Thievery Corporation, as well as some high-profile local musicians such as Ryan David Young of Trampled by Turtles.
On Friday, Franca will be joining Momentary Lapse of Floyd, the Pink Floyd cover band helmed by Chris Castino and Mark Joseph of The Big Wu. They are playing a 90-minute set starting at 9:30 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom (there are four stages).
Then Franca’s global-electro project ETHNO closes down the Regency stage with a scheduled 75-minute set starting at 11:30 p.m.
As mentioned, HoSnow’s lineup is diverse. It isn’t limited to jam acts. There are a couple of noted former Voice contestant vocalists in Nicholas David and Adam Bohanan.
As mentioned, fiddler Ryan David Young of Trampled by Turtles will appear — alongside the Johnson Brothers, who were original members of jam grass band Kind Country.
Local prog-rock favorite Dead Larry makes a rare appearance on the Regency stage on Saturday at 7 p.m., followed by jam grass collective Burbillies, which put a grassy spin on 80s/90s hair rock music.
The local hip-hop and jam scene will collaborate for the second weekend in a row as rapper Sean Anonymous teams up with (rapper Big Zack and) a backing band, the Knowtable Unknown Band, which features keyboardist Kevin Dorsey of The Histronic and bassist Nick Spielman of Useful Jenkins and Feed the Dog. They are scheduled to play the Scandalous Ballroom stage at 10:45 p.m. Friday.
Joe Dunn at the TWINE residency last month. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA
The Histronic along with Joe Dunn have a 90-minute set starting at 12:30 a.m.
There’s a lot more music planned at the festival, so head to my calendar for the full lineup or here for tickets.
What else is going on this week?
Well, tonight, there’s Only Every Monday, which hit its 700th show in the weekly series at The Green Room in Uptown Minneapolis last week.
There’s The Cactus Blossoms Turf Club residency every Monday this month. Luke Callen is the special guest for tonight’s show that starts at 7:30 p.m.
TWINE has members of JoJo Green sitting in at their weekly Wednesday night residency at Bunker’s in North Loop Minneapolis. TWINE bassist Scott Yonke is a member of JoJo Green, which also appears at Hotel Minnesnowta Friday.
I’ll mention the HEAVY Showcase Thursday at Turf Club featuring locals American Cream Band, din-din and Erik’s Iridescent Tent.
Friday at Saint Paul’s Turf Club is Sublime cover band 40 OZ to Freedom.
There is the 17th Annual Happy Birthday Janis show at The Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul Saturday. The Janis Joplin tribute features local musicians.
Gavin St. Clair of Saltydog has a gig at The Back Alley in Duluth Saturday morning. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA
Also for early-rising Duluthians Saturday, Saltydog keyboardist Gavin St. Clair and friends (sounds like percussionist Lefty Johnson on percussion and Alex Piazza on bass) play at The Back Alley starting at 10 a.m. as part of the Cozy Cafe Concert Series.
Lastly, I’ll mention Charlie Parr’s Turf Club residency on Sunday nights in January. This third installment features Laurel Premo.
As always, more details and ticket links for any of the above listed shows can be found on my calendar, which is updated weekly here.