Don’t forget about the Open Mic happening from 4-6 on Friday and Saturday during the Mid West Music Fest at The Blooming Grounds Coffee Shop!!! Come and see what happens, you never know who will show up…See you there!!!

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Got your wristband ready? If not, there are several options:

Three-day wristbands are available in advance for $49 at Mister Groovys (corner of 3rd & Main) and a limited quantity is available for $35 at the Winona Post (64 E 2nd St).

During the festival, Some Sum Studio, located between Walnut and Market at 168 E 3rd St, will serve as MWMF’s “hub” this year for volunteer and band check-in, as well as the box office.

Hours for the box office will be open until midnight all three days of the festival. If you ordered your wristband online, this is where you’ll pick it up. Also at this location, we will be offering $10 off a 3-day wristband with a valid student I.D.

It’s never too late to place an order online as well! Just click here.

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Native-Tennesseean/current-Minnesotan Chastity Brown will make her second Winona appearance at MWMF on April 19th, returning with Brother Ali’s keyboardist deVon Gray.

Throw all the genres and hyphenates together you want to describe her – gospel, roots & soul, jazz, blues & country – they are all right, and also not enough.

Although she was the winner of City Pages’ Best Folk Artist of 2012, Brown is not just a folk artist, she is a poet, one who pours every ounce of her life and feeling into her music, one who is impossible to ignore. Her past, her struggles, and her wisdom are scattered throughout her storyteller’s songs, folded into lyrics sung in her dark honeyed voice. A voice that Knoxville’s Daily Times calls “a sweet and rich concoction of melody and passion”.

Coincidentally, you’ll be able to hear Chasity’s music on the US Premiere of HBO’s “Mary & Martha” (starring Hillary Swank & James Woods) the day after her MWMF appearance.

Brown will be playing indoors at Ed’s (no-name) Bar at 10:15pm after Friday’s Block Party, followed by the Painted Saints at 11:45 (a project of former DeVotchka/current Brass Messenger Paul Fonfara)

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Hailing from Olympia, WA Kendl Winter is no stranger to Winona. She has graced the stage of the annual Boats & Bluegrass Festival playing as a member of The Blackberry Bushes String Band.

“She is a dreamer of dark clouds, has a drawer stuffed full of stolen socks, and picks banjo and guitar like a hillbilly in the Ozarks. She has taken her love of superstition to the birds, literally: bluebirds mean good luck, chickadees mean call home, and a whippoorwill’s morning song is a sign of a good day.”

Come and see for yourself how this songbird sounds at the Winona Arts Center. Kendl Winter will be playing with Jenn Rawling & Basho Parks who also hail from the west, Jacob Green from southern Wisconsin and Winona local Matthew Francis Byrnes who kicks things off at 5:15 on Thursday April 18th.

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MWMF is thrilled to announce 89.3 The Current as an official festival sponsor for the 2nd year in a row.  The Current is a 24/7 program service produced and distributed by Minnesota Public Radio over KCMP 89.3 FM, in the Twin Cities and KMSE 88.7 in Rochester, MN. 89.3 The Current is a music station with a deep and wide playlist. The Current plays the best, authentic new music alongside music that explores roots and influences. The Current has a special emphasis on local musicians and groups, and plays local music in every hour. The Current has established deep ties to the local music community and serves as a positive force in building the creative economy of Minnesota.

Check out Local Current blogger Andrea Swensson’s post about the 2013 festival HERE and her complete coverage of 2012′s festival HERE

http://www.thecurrent.org/

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On Friday April 19th in the Cloud 9 Union Theater at Dibs Cafe there will be one heck of a hip hop extravaganza. The evening will start out at 6:45 with many regional artists gracing the stage. Alex Frecon will start the evening  followed by Milo, Rooster Noodle Soup, Moonlight Grammar, Ecid (Who just had a single online with Rolling Stone magazine), FDR, finishing the evening will be Ernest Rhodes.

I hope all you hip hop lovers are ready for Mid West Music Fest this year!!!

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This year the Mid West Music Fest is proud to add some new venues to the growing list of  places we have had stages in Winona. One of those places is Broken World Records. They are a new bar in town that has a few great features…they have friendly bartenders, free pool, spin vinyl as the soundtrack to the place and house a large  ballroom in the back. Unfortunately kids the front room is for 21+ only but on the other hand the ballroom will be an all ages venue during MWMF. There are many great artists featured on both stages. So come on down and experience something new to Winona and MWMF!!!

Other new venues this year at MWMF include Chapter 2 Books and The Wild Boar. See The schedule for details. Catch you there!!!

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