Zeitgeist, Low, Perfect Duluth Night

We had dinner at Zeitgeist Arts Café (which I propose we collectively begin referring to as Zeitgeist. We enjoyed:

- An affordable plate of large, fresh coconut curry mussels
- An alarmingly large and perfectly juicy ribeye with sweet turnip puree and real baby carrots
- A correctly-undercooked salmon fillet with brown basmati rice and sauted brussel sprouts (very healthy!)
- The best banana cream pie ever created in the history of pies
- Attentive, dignified, and happy service

The space is great, of course. I’m so grateful to the Zeppa Foundation for having the foresight, vision, and commitment to create the whole “Z” complex on Superior Street. A half-block of development just made Duluth a hundred times more livable.

My only complaint with the restaurant space is the overuse of fluorescent lighting. Over the bar, there are four panels of muted ballasts, which shed a clammy pall over the otherwise beautiful bar area. Upstairs, in the back, the “sculptural” cluster of dropped lights are very nice: warm, subdued, soft light. But in the front (upstairs), most of the light is from bright tube-recessed (but open and unfiltered) compact fluorescent lights. Our skin looked bluish in the harsh and flat light, and there was a similar effect on the food. And the warmth/intimacy-effect suffered. I wonder if some kind of “warming filter” could be placed across recess-tubes to improve the light.

Another, better, idea is to replace the fluorescents with LED’s. There are LED’s available now that mimic incandescent and natural light. They are 90% more efficient than incandescent bulbs, much more efficient than fluorescent (I don’t know the exact figure so I won’t postulate), and last up to twenty years. And fluorescents contain mercury, with doesn’t go well with salmon.

The Duluth Grill recently replaced their dining room lighting with LED, lowering their volt-usage from 300 to 12.

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Last night I realized that, despite being a fan for many years. I’d only seen Low perform twice: at the Cedar Cultural Center after releasing “Things We Lost In The Fire”, and at Green Man. I’d seen Al and his other projects many times (including solo in the gym at Emerson, for ten people…very cool), but somehow neglected my need for the complete Low experience.

So, I was happy to be attending the 9 pm show last night, in a new and super-intimate venue, for free, after enjoying a great dinner at Zeitgeist. As usual at Low shows, the audience was held rapt from the start. Al’s guitar playing is evolving to an insane level of nuance and skill, and his voice is stronger and deeper with the years. And he seems to be getting crazier…in a good way, of course. His grimaces are deeper and longer. He squints at Mimi and Steve: is he angry? In pain? Happy? In total bliss? No one knows. His head shakes. His shoulders collapse. His hands cut black holes into the frets.

Mimi’s voice seems to be striving for the reaches of heaven. She stands back there all nonchalantly, like her sun-and-rock gravitas is somehow normal, like the sounds coming off of her lips aren’t special and devastating. We know better.

And let’s discuss bassist Steve Garrington. His fingers slide on/caress/pluck/stroke the big metal strings as he perfectly manages volume and depth. His big black rock star shoes tap a beat while he rocks back and forth, watching Al, watching Mimi, listening, doing, smiling. He was a true joy to watch.

Thanks, Zeppa Foundation.
Thanks, Low.
Thanks, Duluth

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