Outdoor music and ‘Minnesota Kind’

What is more lovely and fun than live vocals and guitars and horns and EVERYTHING on a mildly muggy Minnesota evening at Lake Harriet? Oh, my. If you were there – wasn’t that fun? And if you were not there – dang! We missed you!
The annual Belfast Cowboys Concert at the Lake Harriet Pavilion on June 4, 2023 was “standing room only” again, with beverages and blankets filling all the green space, the entire bench-seating section packed side by side, and all the usual suspects out on the dance floor.
“It’s nice to be playing Lake Harriet, my most favorite place in the world,” band leader Terry Walsh called out – before ripping into another dance number. It might have been “Domino” by Van Morrison. It could have been “Bike Ride on 35W.” It wasn’t “It Was All in My Head” (with guest-called-up-from-beside-the-stage Robert Wilkinson of Flamin’ Ohs fame). That was later in the evening.
Earlier in the evening, this “band of do-gooders” called out for donations to their emergency-housing non-profit, Foothold Twin Cities, and word is they raised more $4,000 that night. Enough to help two families “get a foothold” and not get evicted from their home!
And all the while, Twin Cities music-lovers and community-upholders got a jolt of what we love so much about this lovely place we live.

JAYHAWS COMING AUG. 17 TO LAKE HARRIET
Jayhawks! Yep, even if you missed one of the coolest Lake Harriet Shows so far this year, you still have a chance to not miss one of the next ones.
The Jayhawks, coming off a spring European tour, are coming back this summer to the Linden Hills Bandshell on Thursday, Aug 17. Sponsored again by Peter & Kordie at Linden Hills Dentistry (you may recall they sponsored the Jayhawks two years ago, and two years before that they sponsored that super-cool Suburbs show). This year’s Jayhawks night will likely be another for the memory books – For all of us that will see each other and revel in this home of homes we have, this City of Lakes.
And while I’m waxing poetic about how much I love it here, here’s another I love thing about The Jayhawks – When you Google them, the top link/official website shows up like this: The Jayhawks – A Band from Minnesota.
That’s so... Minnesotan, isn’t it? In a wonderful way. Am I right? Is it not our camaraderie that we are proud of? The musicians in this city and this state are good and generous to each other. So are the writers. We do pull together, for the good of all. It’s a nice thing to see, and I see it more and more.
Check out our playlist for this week, and hear three favorites from The Belfast Cowboys with a couple classics from the Jayhawks.
And next time you’re out seeing live music – think about sending twenty bucks to Foothold Twin Cities. Every dollar goes out to help a family in need. http://www.footholdtwincities.org/
We’re not just Minnesota Nice. We’re Minnesota Kind.