Saturday began with the annual Rock 'n' Run, organized by Alan Sparhawk of Low. A group of about ten took to the trails of Chester Park for a casual morning run scheduled to end right around the start of the kickball game.
The biggest story from this year's kickball was the absence of Chad Lyons of the Bottle Jockeys, a two-time MVP and pitcher for the Friday night team. APBs went out all over Facebook, expressing genuine concern for his welfare, until it was finally discovered he had just overslept.
The game went on without him, with Friday taking the victory. At halftime Fred Tyson, conspicuously missing from the official Homegrown lineup this year, showed up with a speaker in a red flyer wagon and an entourage to perform a few songs, some with lyrics definitely not kid friendly.
After an afternoon of classical performances at Sacred Hear Music Center, evening shows began out West at Beaner's Central and all over downtown Duluth. In addition to music, festivalgoers enjoyed performances from dance group Tribal Alchemie as well as firespinning from the Spin Collective in Minnesota Power Plaza.
At the Red Herring Lounge, Anthony Bennett gave a performance that was part protest, part performance art. With a homemade banner reading "Universal Health Care Now" hung at the back of the stage, he and his bandmates, with the help of an enormous array of effects pedals, cranked out nearly half an hour of feedback and noise, channeling the anger many are feeling about the state of health care in America. At the end, Bennett brought the banner to the front of the stage, holding it there for a few minutes to drive home the message.
Travis Hendershot and Jim Hall (wearing his signature red hat) were the only official acts assigned to play the trolley on Saturday, but some lucky riders also got to hear Dance Attic do an unscheduled set.
Americana duo Mama's Stolen Horses played a set at Blacklist with special guest Jacob Mahon on banjo. They introduced a new tune, written recently during two months spent in Sedona, Arizona, called "Where the Sycamore Grows."
At Sir Benedict's Tavern, Jack Campbell did a solo set. The Duluth native mentioned he's been performing in Chicago (where he goes to school), but is always happy when he has the chance to play in his home town, and wished the audience a "Happy music scene week."
Back at Blacklist, the crowd for young rockers Gin Street overflowed into the street, where the bar's open garage door allowed outside spectators almost as good a show as those inside enjoyed. The band kept it short, playing a rollicking set of five new tunes plus "High Life" from their latest release.
Reflectivore had teased their Red Herring set on social media, saying "We are presenting something crazy with True Norse Films that you probably need to see live." Midway through an intense, mesmerizing performance, two women walked through the crowd followed by a videographer, one wearing a black hood and holding up a lantern, the other in a strappy summer dress and diving helmet. After removing the helmet, the second woman did a powerful dance performance in the center of floor that left the audience surrounding her spellbound.
Down the street at Sir Ben's, Feeding Leroy played sweet, harmony-drenched country tunes for a packed house, with Jim Hall guesting on fiddle. They announced a new tune, saying that it will be on an album they've been working on for the past couple of years and that will hopefully be out soon.
Toby Thomas Churchill's set at Pizza Luce was one of many from Saturday that smacked of performance art. It included a child named David (pronounced Da-veed) in sunglasses and a track suit sitting at a Mac playing DJ while Churchill and his longtime collaborator and Alrights bandmate Danny Cosgrove rocked the mic. Churchill treated the audience to a ukelele number, and even invited David to perform a tune.
Reunion shows have always been a fun and anticipated part of any Homegrown. This year, Glitteratti's scheduled set turned into a reunion of sorts for legendary Duluth band the Dukes of Hubbard, which broke up in the mid-'90s. Eric Pollard of Actual Wolf, Jimi Cooper of the Fractals, Tim Saxhaug of Trampled by Turtles, and Ben Wizik of the band joined Lazylightnightning420 members Marc Gartman and Erik Berry plus Russ Sackett,who'd performed in Gartman's band No Wait Wait to form a supergroup Berry jokingly dubbed "Lazy No Waitin' Dukes of 420." The band ripped through a joyful set of Grateful Dead tunes for an enthusiastic audience to end the night.
