As a reporter at the Duluth News Tribune, my core job responsibility is daily reporting on stories tied, broadly, to the arts and entertainment landscape in on our ten-county Northland coverage area. That includes weekly roundups of “Best Bets” as well as weekly features, frequent briefs, a weekly column, and other stories. Examples of my reporting work at the News Tribune include:
- From Odessa to Duluth: The journey of Bob Dylan’s grandparents (March 28, 2022). I traced the journey of Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, who fled pogroms in what is today Ukraine.
- “We’re in a race”: Inside the drive to build a soundstage in Duluth (April 27, 2022). The story of Duluth’s rapidly expanding film production industry, and the full-fledged soundstage that’s becoming a very real possibility — if not, even, a probability.
- Thanks to Ken Buehler, the whole world loves Lake Superior Railroad Museum (June 8, 2022). When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Lake Superior Railroad Museum executive director Ken Buehler pivoted to video and introduced an international audience to the remarkable history stored in Duluth’s Depot.
- Zach Ross, drummer in Superior band Crescent Moon, dead at 28 (Aug. 4, 2022). Obituaries are among the hardest, but most meaningful, articles to write.
Prior to my Duluth move, I reported extensively on music for The Current (Minnesota Public Radio). Examples of my reporting for The Current include:
- Infographic: Music rights 101 (May 19, 2014). Explaining the inexplicable.
- Minnesota musicians having “panic and anxiety” over planned Affordable Care Act repeal (Jan. 19, 2017). This article won a Page One award from the Minnesota Pro chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
- Music legend Prince dies at age 57 (April 21, 2016). This obituary may be the most widely read piece I’ll ever write.
- Why bassist Liz Draper is a dazzling collaborator — and now, solo artist (Oct. 27, 2021). I appreciated the opportunity to spotlight some of the artists who are crucial, but little-known, members of the music community.
At The Current I also worked for several years on a project called Music News. It took various incarnations, ranging from a web post complementing a host’s on-air break to a daily video post and podcast; in the latter form, I was the feature’s principal writer and co-hosted with my colleague Jade.
I also reported for City Pages; unfortunately, that alt-weekly was pulled off the internet when it ceased publishing in 2020, and its archives are not readily available. From 2007 to 2013, I reported for the Twin Cities Daily Planet, a nonprofit citizen journalism project where I also served as arts editor.