Duluth mayor croons for credit rating, punks for potholes

​Image courtesy of Hansi Johnson

It will be the last Homegrown Music Festival of his tenure, and Duluth mayor Don Ness wasn't about to let it slip by without having some fun.

Ness, known for playful antics over his nearly eight years at the helm of the city, helped open the 17-year-old festival with a speech and couple of renditions on stage at Tycoons Alehouse on Sunday night.

In one song, the mayor used an Isaac Hayes-style cadence to sweet-talk to the bank, asking it to raise the city's credit rating: "Hey there, Bank. How you doin? Remember me? Ahhhh yeah."

In another, Ness shed his suit coat, put on sunglasses and got his punk on, singing about the city's pothole problems in a parody of local band Giljunko's song "Mohawks."

The band The Farsights cranked guitars alongside Ness as he sang: "People are angry about their potholed streets, it's coming haaarrrd down on me. Potholed streets have got me down, got me down."

Can't say it was done as a campaign stunt. Ness, who has been photographed crowd surfing and once did a video parody of a "Gangnam style" dance to promote the local arts, isn't running for re-election. He announced in October that he would finish out his second four-year term as mayor this year and has no interest in higher office.

Ness said in an interview that he served as Homegrown festival director for two years before he became mayor and has since made proclamation speeches to start the festivities each year.

"This is an event that is near and dear to my heart. These are kind of the people that I grew up with," he said. "I thought I'd try something a little bit over the top ... It was very supportive crowd, they very quickly caught the spirit and kind of the corniness of it. When you have a supportive crowd, it kind of helps you loosen up."

The Duluth Homegrown Music Festival runs all week, featuring local artists at various venues throughout Duluth and Superior, Wis.