Someone just posted a bunch of old WDIO news, sports and weather promos on YouTube. Here is an assortment of 1970s-era holiday spots - lots of glimpses of old TV news sets and technology…. and a brief appearance by Dennis Anderson:

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Thursday, Nov. 12

4 p.m. | Ribbon Cutting by the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce and a champagne toast. Reception follows with music by Tangier 57 until 7 p.m.

7 p.m. | Low

9 p.m. | Low, again

How Low can they go? There will be two performances by Low. Both are free, but limited space requires that patrons pick up a ticket at one of the Zeitgeist Arts venues prior to the celebration. (UPDATE: Tickets to both Low shows are sold out).

222 E. Superior St., Duluth
Home of Teatro Zuccone, Zinema 2 and Zeitgeist Arts Cafe

While most bands are fleeing their homes for the coastal cities of New York and Los Angeles, Farewell Milwaukee is embracing the role that their Midwestern towns have played in shaping them artistically. Audiences are drawn to their Americana style, authentic lyrics, as well as the chemistry that’s displayed when 5 shaggy boys from the Midwest drop their jaws wide and harmonize as one!

Their debut album “Autumn Rest Easy” bleeds with Americana soul, folk rock, perfect pop harmonies, and a pedal steel that would make all 3 Hank Williams’ proud.  It is a Midwest-fall road tripper’s dream, combining sparkling clean guitar tones and vocal harmonies on tracks perfect for passing hours eastbound on I-94.

Farewell MIlwaukee will be playing at Beaners Central in Duluth on Saturday, Nov. 14 with “Red Fox Grey Fox” and “The People Say Fox“

PAVSA’s 29^th Annual Art Auction will take place on Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Holiday Inn in Downtown Duluth.  Doors open at 5 p.m., with the silent auction set to begin at 5:30 p.m.  Following will be the live auction, featuring pieces donated by local artists.  An additional highlight will be the dessert auction, with fine cheesecakes, chocolate delights, and other delectable desserts up for bid.  Appetizers and hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout the evening.  Tickets for the Art Auction are $50 each.

At the 2009 Art Auction, PAVSA will be honoring individuals through three awards.  Receiving the 2009 Community Ally awards will be Coral McDonnell and Officer Robert Carter.  Coral McDonnell has been actively involved as an advocate in the sexual assault and domestic violence movements since for more than three decades.  She worked with the Domestic Abuse Intervention Program for many years and has served on the PAVSA Board of Directors since 2006.

Also receiving the Community Ally Award is Investigator Robert (Bob) Carter, a long-time patrol officer and former member of the Duluth Police Sex Crimes, Abuse and Neglect Unit.  Officer Carter, who passed away in August, was committed to ending sexual violence and was a leader in addressing the issue of trafficking of adolescent girls in our community.  Bob was also an avid photographer and donated his work to the PAVSA Art Auction. 

PAVSA’s Artist of the Year Award will honor artists Michael Tonder and Jody Freij-Tonder, co-owners of Blue Skies Glassworks.  Michael and Jody have been longtime donors to the PAVSA Art Auction, and we are pleased to recognize them for their environmentally conscious sculptures, stained glass, and fused glass pieces.

To buy tickets or for more information about PAVSA’s 29^th Annual Art Auction, please call PAVSA at (218) 726-1442. 

A Women’s Resource & Action Center Brown Bag Presented by Linda Gokee-Rindal

Wednesday, Nov. 18^th 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Kirby Student Center 268

Sponsored by UMD Women’s Resource & Action Center, UMD Women’s Studies Department & UMD Health Services

Free and open to the public.

Contact info:
UMD Women’s Resource & Action Center
Kirby Student Center 266
wrac@d.umn.edu
218-726-6292
http://www.d.umn.edu/mlrc/wrac/

I visited my parents yesterday and my mother told me she had a gift for me. She produced a bottle of sloe gin and a bottle of grenadine, the contents of which had both been partially consumed.

The two bottles have been in my parents coat closet for many years. The theory is that they were leftover from my brother’s wedding reception in 1985.

I’m pretty sure the grenadine should go straight down the sink, although I’m kind of wondering if corn sweetner and citric acid blended with various preservatives tastes any different after two-and-a-half decades.

The sloe gin, on the other hand, needs to be consumed and enjoyed in excess. Does anyone out there have a parent with some vermouth in the closet? We should get together for cocktails.

And by the way, what’s your favorite sloe gin drink?

On Sat. Dec. 5 Washington Studios Artist’s Co-op is hosting “It’s a Wonderful Life” a three-tiered event with a members’ show in the Washington Gallery, All-day entertainment schedule, and handmade arts and crafts in the halls outside the gallery. We still have spots available for artists of all sorts, our main stipulation is that your art/craft must be handmade. It’s going to be “A Wonderful Time!”

The application is available on our site www.wsacduluth.info

Our annual airing of the 2 1/2 hour documentary “We’re Holding Our Own: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald” will be tonight at 7 p.m. on KUWS-FM (91.3 Superior, 102.9 Ashland). The ore carrier sank in eastern Lake Superior with no distress calls, no witnesses and most tragically, no survivors. This doc was produced by Wisconsin Public Radio over a five year period and aired November 10, 1995 on the 20th anniversary of its sinking. 2 1/2 hours seems like a long time, but it moves pretty fast and doesn’t have Gordon Lightfoot’s song all over it.

Patrick Coyle, director and writer of Into Temptation, was in Duluth to discuss his Minnesota-made movie last night at the Zinema, our town’s great new independent movie theater. At the start of the sold-out movie, the director sat on the aisle steps awaiting the audience’s reaction to his film. Unfortunately, the movie was a choppy version of the original. The disc kept skipping like a bad movie night in your living room. Coyle ran out to see what was happening and then returned apologizing and saying he would pop over to his car and get another disc. A director who has an extra movie at the ready seemed handy and kinda weird.

Then after a few minutes of disc 2, skip, … skip,… skip, and no director appeared to apologize. The audience sat for about 20 more minutes before starting to file out of the theater. We got our money back but wondered what the deal was. It’s too bad too since the 30-40 minutes of the movie I saw (parts from the beginning, middle, and end, by the way) was pretty good. Jeremy Sisto (of Law and Order and Six Feet Under) plays a gentle Catholic priest who tries to help a woman who has confessed that she plans to kill herself. But what actually happened at the Zinema last night? Who knows? It was kinda fun afterward when we tried to fill in the holes by imagining what happened.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about fires I’ve shared with people. When there’s a fire in a pit or ring, I find myself compelled to grab a stick and begin to push here, move there and tend. My father taught me how to build a fire..”Build it like a house cause nothing burns better than a house” he said. I’m also inspired by fires used to create things in metal or clay and law. So I ask you, where are the good communal fire rings? Can I come and merely tend? Wouldn’t it be great to have an official Duluth city fire pit?

The Teatro Zuccone is excited to welcome Gabriel Holmes, from Rochester, MN, to the Teatro Zuccone stage tonight, November 6, 2009 for ONE NIGHT ONLY.

Gabriel will perform his very popular stage show at 9 pm followed by a live Improv set from Renegade at 10:30 p.m. Tickets for Gabriel’s show are $10. Tickets to improv are $5, or free with your ticket to Gabriel’s show!

Tickets are available at the door or by calling 218-336-1414.

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Act 3: Scene 5

(on the homestead)

 Paw:  Son, go gets me one of them there keepin’ fixtures from out yonder.

 Son:  Out yonder?  I done thought ya telled me to puts the keepin’ fixtures ‘round back, Paw!

 Paw:  ‘Round back?  Well now what in tarnation ya been done haulin’ out yonder?

 Son:  I done hauled yer shootin’ fixtures out yonder.

 Paw:  Well shee-oot, looks like ya done mixered up my shootin’ fixtures with my keepin’ fixtures!  I reckon I’m a-gonna hafta thinks on this here ponderance…

(Paw pauses)

(then pauses some more)

(Son sees Paw pausing and pauses his own self – which gives pause to Paw)

 Son, go gets me my shootin’ gun.

Indie Film Night is this Saturday, November 7, at the hottest new arthouse theater in the entire country, the ZINEMA2 at 222 East Superior Street. Here’s the rundown:

4:00 – Info session on how to apply to the $25k McKnight Filmmaking and Screenwriting Fellowships – FREE

5:00 – CINEMA LOUNGE with the best short films made by Duluth-area filmmakers, and interviews with the supercool filmmakers – FREE

7:30 – Duluth premiere of the MN-made feature that’s taking the indie film world by storm: INTO TEMPTATION, starring Kristin Chenoweth and with an appearance by director Patrick Coyle! – $10

10:00 – PARTY

BE THERE!!!!!

Audition Notice

Renegade Announces Auditions for the first 3 shows of their exciting 2010 Season: The Sparrow, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and The Who’s Tommy.

WHEN: Saturday Nov. 14, Sunday Nov. 15.

TIME: 1:00pm-4:00pm each day ~Sign up for a 10 Minute Time Slot!

WHERE: Auditions will be at Teatro Zuccone

Sign up in advance for a 10-minute time slot by stopping by the Renegade upstairs office, by calling 722-6775, or by emailing katyhelbacka@gmail.com

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Friday, Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m.
Don’t miss the 10th Annual Story Hour concert at UMD’s Weber Hall with the UMD Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jean R. Perrault. Elizabeth Nordell, Storyteller, and Evelyne Aiello, guest conductor from the Conservatoire de Paris, will join the orchestra in the theme of Rebirth. Music includes “Danse Macabre” by Saint-Saens, “Tombeau de Couperin” by Ravel and “Symphony #9 in e minor (from the “New World”) by Dvorak. Adult $8/Senior $7/Student $5/ UMD Student $3/Children 12 & under free. ?s: 726-8877.

Thursday, Nov. 19, 6 p.m.
9th Annual Tellabration Family Storytelling event at Grant School, located at 1027 N 8th Ave. E., Duluth, MN. Tellers will include: Rachel Nelson, Harold Kallio, Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux, Elizabeth Nordell and Carol Lee and Sparky. Refreshments! Free! Non-perishable food item appreciated. ?s: 733-7016

Thursday, Nov. 19, 8:15 p.m.
“Wit, Wisdom and Whatever..” a Tellabration Adult Storytelling event at Dubh Linn’s Pub, The Murphy Room, 109 W Superior St., Duluth, MN. Tellers will include: Rachel Nelson, Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux, Elizabeth Nordell and Carol Lee, Tom Martinson and Harold Kallio.$5. ?s: 724-3484

Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Rex Bar, lower level of the Fitger’s Complex, 11 p.m.. Come see Turbo Rathvon with Enchanted Ape.

Indie-rock ‘n roll/ acoustic punk/ indie-pop: from loud and fast and thrilling with cannonball drums and crunching guitars and poppy bass grooves to bare bones acoustic rage and sweet, elegiac tenderness. Lyrically the music is a verbal nervous breakdown on the subjects of love and lostness and chaos at an age when the world is calling you to responsibility.

What’s a good place to eat dinner on Thanksgiving day in Duluth?

(Looking for a restaurant recommendation, not the suggestion to go to your grandmother’s house!)

Thursday Nov. 12, 2009
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Great Lakes Aquarium
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Jason Wussow and Dan Dresser, the guys who made the movie Cooking on the Car, are taking their mobile kitchen on the road again soon. They’re hoping to challenge Jay Leno to a cook off – putting their Toyota Camry up against one of Leno’s fancy schmancy cars. Or maybe Conan is still driving his Taurus.

Follow them:
New website
Tweets
Youtubes

Cooking on the Car will also be showing this Saturday at that Zinema.

These are the final numbers.

Still no mandate on the school district’s long-range facilities plan. Half of the opponents of the plan were elected, and half were not. Jim Stauber is the comeback kid in the at-large city council race.

Duluth Second District City Councilor
Patrick Boyle – 2,543 | 78%
Rob Wagner – 668 | 21%

Duluth Fourth District City Councilor
Kerry Gauthier – 1,932 | 52%
Gordon Grant – 1,779 | 48%

Duluth At-large City Councilor
Top two candidates are elected
Dan Hartman – 9,322 | 26%
James Stauber – 9,045 | 25%
Beth Olson – 8,851 | 25%
Becky Hall – 8,256 | 23%

Question 1: Amending the city charter so the mayor can appoint a communications and policy officer and a community relations officer.
Yes – 10,797 | 59%
No – 7,431 | 41%

Question 2: Amending the city charter so city employees are not required to take a leave of absence from city employment to run for any political office, except city offices or Duluth’s board of education.
No – 9,069 | 50.07%
Yes – 9,044 | 49.93%

Duluth District One School Board
Ann Wasson – 2,925 | 54%
Marcia Stromgren – 2,513 | 46%

Duluth District Four School Board
Art Johnston – 1,972 | 53%
Laura Condon – 1,770 | 47%

Duluth At-large School Board
Top two candidates are elected
Tom Kasper – 11,757 | 32%
Mary Cameron – 8,960 | 24%
Nancy Nilsen – 8,308 | 22%
Maureen Booth – 7,975 | 21%

From 1991 to 2008, Yoshikas Sauna served the West End with its famous  “erotic” massages. Everyone in town knew prostitution was going on there, but somehow the long arm of the law seemed to ignore it.

It was finally shut down when the city decided not to grant a massage establishment license to owner Suzy Woo-Young in November 2008. (Woo-Young had operated Yoshikas without a license all those years, and decided to finally apply for one. Oops.)

Kevin Lund bought the building and had it torn down last Thursday.

Any Yoshikas memories for the record, PDD commenters? (You know, stories that won’t gross us all out.)

By the way, people always called the place “Yoshiko’s Sauna.” The News Tribune refers to it as “Yoshiko Sauna,” which is also how it appeared in the phone book. The sign (pictured above) said “Yoshikas Sauna,” so I spell it that way. It seems like there should be a possessive apostrophe, but I’m not sure who or what a Yoshika is.

22 Year Old runs for Mayor of Minneapolis on the ‘Is Awesome’ party.

And with instant run-off voting, for the first time ever in tomorrow’s race, who knows, he may have a shot.

Only a few hours left in the infamous motorized La-z-boy auction, and it’s nowhere to be found on ebay! Anyone know what happened to it?

Oh well. If I can’t have an infamous motorized La-z-boy, I can at least bid on this.

Tuesday, Nov. 3, municipal elections will be held in Duluth. Vote early, vote often.

AFSCME’s endorsed candidates are: Kerry Gauthier, Beth Olson, Daniel Hartman, and Patrick Boyle. If you are a public employee, my wife is probably going to knock on your door or call you tonight. Be nice.

http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=134

Perfect Duluth Day’s readership survey will end at 8 p.m. Tuesday, when the election polls close.

If you haven’t already surrendered your private information in order to be eligable to win the drawing, you have until then. Click here for a chance to win $100 from PDD.

The drawing will be held Wednesday morning, and the winner will be announced in the comments of the original post, which is linked above.

Like PangeaDay.org and OnceUponaSchool.org, this is another product of the TED Conferences.

Charter for Compassion trailer from TED Prize on Vimeo.

What is this NaNoWriMo you speak of?

National Novel Writing Month, of course!! For the month of November, join the masses of delusional word hungry authors-to-be in writing a complete novel–50,000 words! Winners, and participants, get to savor the victory of embarking on a crazy journey that will leave others slack jawed and amazed.

Write-ins are gatherings of NaNoWriMers joined in common purpose to make their word count soar. It is best to come to these prepared with snacks, writing utensils of choice, paper and/or laptop. Unfortunately there is no Internet connection at this location, but as seasoned NaNoWrimers know, Internet is just another distraction from the ultimate goal.

There will be write-ins held at
Bohemia Arts
22 N. First Ave. W.

Saturdays in November from 4:30 to 6 pm. Hope to see you there!

www.nanowrimo.org

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