On Tuesday, June 1, at 5 p.m., peace and justice activists in Duluth will gather at the Federal Building to denounce the Israeli government’s assault on the Gaza Freedom Convoy and call for an end to U.S. aid for Israel.
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A Winter Downpour made its Duluth debut this past May at “New Band Night” during the Homegrown Music Festival. Now we take the second step in becoming a certified Twin Ports band by crossing the bridge for our second show and playing at Thirsty Pagan. Hope to see you there. This is a free show. Plus our friends Atlas Mts. and The Hotel Coral Essex are joining us.

Sat. June 5th @ Thirsty Pagan
10pm | 21+ | Free
A Winter Downpour | Atlas Mts. | Hotel Coral Essex

We’re so excited, we’re doing back flips here! Of course, this is leading to serious injuries and skyrocketing group insurance rates, but here’s the skinny:

Community radio station WOJB is presenting The Hold Steady with special guests The Whigs from Athens GA and Milwaukee’s best kept secret, Jaill in concert July 2nd at the Lac Courte Oreilles Convention Center, 4 miles east of Hayward at the junction of County Highways B & K.

And only 20 bucks in advance! Tickets are available at www.wojb.org or by Visa/MC over the phone at 800-776-3689.

Stupid stupid stupid oil industry! If you thought all this crap was bad today, it was equally bad in 1979 (“equally bad” as in “the exact same fucking problem”).

That was Then, This is Then

Historic Duluth Armory featured Paul Metsa and Danny Fox, the 2008 winner of the Hibbing Dylan Days singer/songwriter contest for the May 30th open house.

click for photos

May was a great time for homegrown music.
June is shaping up to be the month for homegrown theater.

Rubber Chicken Theater presents
“American Buffalo” by David Mamet

June 3-5, 10-12, 17-19
7pm at The Venue at Mohaupt Block.

Directed by Minden Anderson
Featuring Tony Barrett, Brian Matuszak, and Tate Haglund-Pagel

(218) 213-2780, www.RubberChickenTheater.com

Confederate grave, Holly Springs, Mississippi, June 2007.

The News-Tribune had a nice editorial Sunday encouraging people to take time out to remember that Memorial Day was intended to include an element of solemnity, paying homage to those who have died in the service of the United States. I’m no jingo, but I generally embrace those sentiments. The editorial board erred in citing the nonprofit usmemorialday.org’s characterization of the origins of the tradition, however: “That inaugural Decoration Day, on May 30, 1868, drew some 5,000 Americans who helped place flowers and flags on the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery,” the group claims, imagining a scene of national reconciliation.

The reality, as historian James McPherson noted, was that “[w]artime rancor remained alive in those years. Controversies arose in the North and South over the decoration of the graves of the few enemy soldiers buried in several communities. During the Memorial Day commemoration at Arlington in 1869, the G.A.R. placed guards around the handful of Confederate graves to prevent them from being decorated.”

As the years passed, the spirit of national reconciliation imagined by the usmemorialday.org authors did begin to develop, and grey-haired Unionists and former rebels began to finally “clasp hands across the bloody chasm,” on Memorial Days and more generally–but only in the wake of a process of collective, intentional amnesia on the part of white Americans, who ultimately preferred to forget what the war had been about. [Which was bitterly ironic, given that the first major organized act of commemoration after the war was undertaken by the African-Americans of Charleston, South Carolina, 10,000 of whom attended a ceremony on 1 May 1865 honoring several hundred Union soldiers who had died in a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp in that city deep in the heart of the Confederacy.]

It continues to get better all the time.

Big weekend ahead. Got plans? Here are some suggestions, assuming that you’re not heading off to hibernate at your cabin on the lake … though if you are reading this now, you really should be outside.
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Mugs for sale via Etsy.com. The perfect Dad’s Day gift.

Ceramic Art by Lenni

A warning to all dog owners out there: some asshole is going around Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood poisoning dogs (DPD, DNT, Strib, Fox21, MPR). Unlike the dog-napper rumors, this appears to be real.

Watch your doggies, bring them to the vet if you notice symptoms, and keep an eye out for suspicious people giving your pets “treats.”

I saw this on a UMD bulletin board among all the “House for Rent” and “For Sale” fliers. It made me laugh.

So, I’m walking down East Third Street, minding my own business, and a middle-aged man with a goofy smile on his face asks me: “Are you talkin’ it off or walkin’ it off?”

Is that some kind of expression? What could it possibly mean? Did I hear him right?

I’ve found that it’s best in these situations to just say something quickly and politely while continuing to walk, so I just said, “Walking it off,” and kept going.

But now that interaction is bugging me. The only implication I can think of is that maybe I’m supposed to be walking off a hangover, which I guess sort of makes sense. But how would somebody talk off a hangover? And since I wasn’t talking, shouldn’t it have been obvious I was walking it off?

Don’t forget, the deadline for the Perfect Duluth Day sales position is Friday, June 4th.

See the job description here.

Show w/ The Branditos, The Fontanelles & the Western Ridge + a limited amount of hand screened music compilations (done by Glen Maloney) featuring 14 songs (by Jordan Taylor, Sara Softich, the Branditos, and me) and some noise and stuff.

See ya!

Video about Roscoe’s Pioneer Bar on Blip.TV.

We can hardly believe our festival will begin a week from today! Eeep! We are buzzing with nervousness and excitement — we truly hope to see all of you out and about! If you haven’t visited our website yet, please do as our full schedule is up and you can download a PDF of our program and a quick music and film schedule to put right in your pocket!
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Who has contact info. for the Fractals? I’d like to get a hold of them about a potential gig. Thanks!

Since we have to endure this “mega-project” for so long, we better all get on the same page.

I’m one of those who follows the signs that say USE BOTH LANES when backed up and TAKE TURNS AT THE MERGE, which means take turns at the merge to me. I’m pretty sure these signs, their positioning, and the whole setup have been thought out and planned to make the situation as easy as possible for everyone.

Despite those instructions, it seems a majority of people decide to fall in line to the right, maybe assuming they’re eventually going to have to merge anyway. This creates a very long backup in the right lane and a wide open left lane up to the merge, which leads to angry drivers in the right lane who see others cruising by them in the left lane. If a majority of us would actually drive through this the way I think it was intended, I think it would be a lot smoother, similar to the second merge going west from downtown, where traffic spreads out a little and left laners can seamlessly get right without anyone having to slow down at all.

I bring this up after seeing the attempts by some to take up both lanes and actually getting swerved at yesterday for using the wide open left lane. Thank goodness the kids weren’t in the car. Seriously who “fake swerves” their vehicle at another moving vehicle?

Am I wrong here? And if not, how do we get everyone through this as intended? I’ve seen letters to the DNT addressing this and basically saying the same thing I am, obviously without impact.

Who is interested in attending a short experimental music fest in Duluth? I’ve got interested performers and workshop presenters. I could probably wrangle some funding, too. I’m looking at some time in the fall for a Friday-Saturday kind of thing. Still need a venue, a couple of interested volunteers and a potential crowd of workshop participants and performance attendees. Express your desires here or contact me directly through my web site.

The restaurant/bakery/brewpub at Clyde Park is now open in Duluth’s Friendly West End. It’s at 29th Ave. W. & Michigan St.

I wrote an article for Business North on the development at Clyde Park in 2007 and created a historical timeline as a sidebar. There wasn’t room in the paper to publish the timeline, so it seems here and now might be a good time and place to share it.
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Looking for local graffiti artists for hire. If your work involves tagging and original art (not Disney characters or something silly like that) please give me a shoutola.

kramfriederichs @ gmail

Turbo Rathvon presents “The Lost Weekend” May 28-29. Joining Turbo Rathvon on stage both nights will be local underground heroes the Real McCoys and the Twin Cities pop-punk circus Unexpected Guests. Friday night’s show starts at 9 p.m. at Hell Burgers in Canal Park, Saturday’s show starts at 10 p.m. at Norm’s in Superior. No Cover.

myspace.com/turborathvon

After initially deciding to take a year off, Trent and Brita Edgerton, the amazing local couple that has produced MITP since 2006, sent me an email today telling me that the event is BACK on with a new sponsor, the Greater Downtown Council. Information about sponsorship opportunities and a TENTATIVE schedule is here.

That’s all I know.

Wednesday is the last day to buy advance tickets online.

Thursday May 27, 2010, 7 PM
Sacred Heart Music Center

$10 advance/ $12 at the door
Tickets online at sacredheartmusic.org or at the Electric Fetus

Scheduled to appear: Rich Mattson, Father Hennepin, Bill & Kate Isles, Rachael Kilgour & Adeline Wright, Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses, Dana Thompson and many many more.

Sponsored by the Transistor, Pizza Luce, Carmody Irish Pub, Paper Hog, B105 Radio, Coors Leamon Mercantile and Keyport Liquor

The Twin Ports’ only Billy Joel tribute band plays Teatro Zuccone on Friday, May 28, at 9 p.m. Stick around for Renegade Theater Co. Improv at 10:30 p.m. Cover charge: Five bucks.

Celebrate freedom in style with Duluth’s Ultimate Frisbee team, DingWop!

Saturday, June 12 @ Mont du Lac Ski Hill.
Charlie Parr, the Boomchucks, the Breeze
Music starts at 8pm
$5 at the door 21+
Please do not drink and drive.

Tournament play June 12-13 on Park Point 9am-5pm, come check out the action and soak up some rays on beautiful Park Point.

contact: dingwop @ gmail

In a tragic follow-up story to Swan’s post from November, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has gotten rid of his mullet. Apparently his fiancé didn’t dig it.

What’s next? Will Frank Nichols shave his beard?

Does anyone have any suggestions for local artists or galleries that sell ceramic tiles? I am looking for just a few to accent a new bathroom wall tiling project. I have seen Liz Siverston’s set of otters, moose, fox, and bear (very cute and colorful!), and there are some really neat ones at the Art Dock in DeWitt Seitz that are black and cream colored with birds. Is there anywhere else you suggest I look?

You’ve got until Tuesday, June 1, to pick a running mate and file your candidacy for governor in Minnesota.

Your list of opponents will surely grow in the next week, but here’s the lineup so far:

Tom Emmer & Annette T. Meeks (Republican)
Ole Savior & Todd “Elvis” Anderson (Republican)
Margaret Anderson Kelliher & John Gunyou (DFL)
Mark Dayton & Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL)

Congratulations to Ole Savior for being more hilarious than ever this time around.  Elvis Anderson? Really? Wow.

By the way, in Wisconsin the list of candidates for governor is up to 20 already. Lieutenant governor candidates run separately in Wisconsin. There are 10 of them, including Superior Mayor David Ross.

And how about the crazy scramble to run for Prettner Solon’s Minnesota Senate District 7 seat now that she’s running for lieutenant governor? No one has filed yet, but that one is bound to get interesting.

Oh, and I apologize in advance for provoking a discussion of politics.