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Viva Lutsen!: Snowball, Dessa, DJ Abilities to hit the slopes this month

WookieFoot heads up next week's fest with Pert Near Sandstone and Jon Wayne & the Pain.

By Chris Riemenschneider

January 4, 2013 at 4:21PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Dead Man Winter was a fitting choice for last year's Snowball in Lutsen. / Courtesy Papa Charlie's (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

As the base on the "mountain" in Lutsen grows, so thickens the music calendar at Papa Charlie's, the coolest ski-in rock venue in Minnesota -- not that Buck Hill or Afton Alps provide much competition. Next week sees the bar's biggest event of the winter, Snowball, featuring a lot of favorites from the Cabooze/West Bank music scene. Here are the lineup highlights:

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

THURSDAY: Pert Near Sandstone, Useful Jenkins / FRIDAY: Jon Wayne & the Pain, Soap, the Limns / SATURDAY: WookieFoot, Heatbox

Papa Charlie's is also bringing in some impressive names for the other Saturdays this month, including DJ Abilities this weekend and Dessa with A. Wolf & Her Claws on Jan. 19. It is also now hosting a weekly comedy night on Fridays as well as a songwriter series on Mondays (when rooms at the neighboring Eagle's Ridge resort are cheaper). Some of the participating tunesmiths include the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank next week, Chris Koza of Rogue Valley on Jan. 14 and Ben Kyle of Romantica on Jan. 21.

If you don't know, Lutsen is about a 4½-hour drive from the Twin Cities along the North Shore.

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.