We just moved to Lakeside and our cat decided he wanted out. His name is Mingus, he is all black with a small patch of white on his belly. He left on Mother’s day and has been gone since. If you see him please email me at jakesandmingus (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Thank you all so much for your patience as it took us a bit longer than anticipated to get our website up and fully functioning. Our confirmed film titles are in, along with our full music line-up!

As space is limited to each screening and music event, we highly encourage you to purchase tickets in advance. There is definitely something for EVERYONE at the festival this year and we can’t wait to see you all there.

Cheers-
Sound Unseen Int’l Duluth

Four Boxes, the made-in-Minnesota film starring Justin Kirk that’s having a week-long sneak preview at Zinema next week, scored two impressive national write-ups this week.

Wired: DIY Thriller Four Boxes Taps Web Voyeurism for Chills

Screen Crave: Four Boxes — Another Horror Indie That Can Make It Big?

Four Boxes plays Friday, May 21 - Thursday, May 27 at 7 p.m. nightly at Zinema 2.

Community more than anything is synergies. Cooperative adaptation. The more. The multiplier. Goodness passing among us as an expression of the real love we can will ourselves to feel for every person we touch,  and we actually touch all of them.

Phrase in question:

“If you feel there is a better offering, of which I should take advantage, please let me know and I’ll switch.”

This seems so chunky and I feel like Winston Churchill when I say it. Since the preposition is in the middle of the sentence, do I need to write it this way? Couldn’t it be “If you feel there is a better offering, which I should take advantage of, please let me know and I’ll switch.”?

Bigger question, why am I so obsessive these days?

Directed by Edgewood Smith

Another selection from the 2010 Homegrown Music Video Festival.

Charity Huot, our May Minneconomy feature, will be playing an in-store today at 5:00! Come on down for some free, great local music!

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/1561578[/vimeo]

Well, Bone Appetit played it’s last show ever last weekend, and it ended just like it began — sloppy, drunken, and unpredictable.

Thanks to everyone throughout the years that supported us, and thanks even more to the people who took time out of their lives to rip on us, thus giving us even more press than our supporters. I wish I could take the time to individually thank everyone, but I refuse to do that knowing I’d forget someone.  We may have never sang about “what’s cool,” and never really fit in with the whole Duluth scene, but to those that embraced us for doing whatever the fuck we wanted, I thank you!  

I have more good and funny memories from that band than most any other thing in life, and even though some of us don’t really get along in the band anymore, I will still say that I love each and every one of those guys. We’ll never get the accolades that some bands in that town get, but there isn’t one fucking person who deny that we fucking rocked that town over the years.  In the end, I like to think we left a nice big skid mark on certain parts of that music scene that can’t be wiped off.

To everyone I’ve had a beer/smoke/laugh with over the last 11 years in this band, I have nothing but thanks for you.  I love you all, and Good Fucking Night.

Love always,

Cory “Hotrod” Ahlm

P.S.  Special thanks to Starfire,  Adam Guggemos, Paul Lundgren/Barrett Chase, Christa Lawler, Rick Boo, Eric Swanson, Slim Goodbuzz, Jason Cork, and Chris Whittier. Anyone else I forgot, hit me up for a beer.

photo via-Sixxjy

Liver check, 1-2-3, check, check.

Thank you Duluth. You continue to amaze me with your support of this crazy festival. I mean seriously, how many towns throw an event like this and receive such amazing support night after night, venue after venue. This is a special place we live in.

I would like to especially thank the organizers that slog away at making it happen, the volunteers that make it work, the bands that make it all possible and finally the fans, without who it wouldn’t happen. The biggest thank you should go out to the venues that let us take over and the under-appreciated janitors that have to sweep and swab up after you slobs.

So here’s till next year. Thank you Homegrown.

-Scott

Photo via-WMS UpNorthMN

Working Chainsaw Artists, 11am – 5:30pm, Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15.

Northwestern Middle School student Autumn Howland will join her father, Justin Howland, and fellow carver Jared Nelson on Saturday, May 15 in the second of two all-day chain saw carving events sponsored by the Superior Council for the Arts.  

Justin Howland will complete a towering sculpture depicting people and elements of early history of Superior and the region in the Hammond Avenue and Broadway Street corner of the Broadway Community Gardens. Work on the sculpture will begin May 14 in the Gardens.

The 10-foot sculpture will be a prominent feature of the gardens, along with an already installed mosaic bench by Luke Krisak and Karin Kraemer, and a ceramic brick bench by Carla Stetson.  Raised bed planting boxes, available for rental by community members,  are another feature of the Broadway Gardens, a project of the Superior Council for the Arts. 

An outside/in exhibition featuring chainsaw and other wood carvings will be shown in the Trade and Commerce Building’s North End Arts Gallery, also a project of the SCFTA.

All events are open to the public.

Discover Sarah Brokke’s portrait painting, the DAI’s new portrait show and stories from songwriters Bill & Kate Isles. Thursday, May 13, 9pm on WDSE, Channel 8 & 31. Online at theplaylistonline.org!

The animated shorts of Chuck Jones, Max Fleischer, Tex Avery and many others will be presented tomorrow night by my favorite dumpster divin’ archivist, Dennis Nyback, heading to Duluth all the ways from Portland OR.

Bad Bugs at 7p.m. and Compare to Disney (aka **** Mickey Mouse)  at 9p.m. Bad Bugs is made up of the films W.B. wish were destroyed.  Compare to Disney demonstrates how animators responded to the Disney juggernaut in the 1930s and 1940s. Nyback focuses on three tactics by his competition: Rip him off, beat him to the punch, or make vicious fun of him.. For instance, A Corney Concerto, which pokes fun at Fantasia. All films will be presented in glorious 16mm! For more info and tickets head to: zinema2.com 6bux for one show and 8bux for both. oh yeah and $2 Two-Hearted Zinema 2 222 E Superior St. 722-7300

Complimentary Community Day (that means free standard house tours!) at Glensheen on Friday, May 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Here’s a tip: tour tickets are limited so we suggest getting yours early. The ticket house opens at 9 a.m.

This is a great opportunity to experience part of Duluth’s opulent past. We hope you can make it!

I don’t think another city on earth just did this. Wonderful time. Tried to see all. Probably saw only 20 out of 150, my apologies to those I didn’t see Aye, the roast of Rick Boo, fairly outrageous. The Rez and Too Many Banjos at Bev’s then Acceleratii then after hours ata Franks. Too many things. Saw the sun come up five times. Rip it up grasshoppers. Bone Appetite over the top. Bill Meyer backing Pat McKinnon, whoa. Sarah Krueger. Nice sound check at Trampled, nerves before going on, talking too much and Jake saved me, Spotted Mule. Fromundas, Father Hennepin, Donald Kinnsley. Lamont Cranston, so much. So many good folks, I thought it was a small Woodstock. More than I can think of, Thanks appreciate it and now I’m going to bed.

Have you walked, biked, snowmobiled or whatevered this trail? It starts/ends just off of North 63rd Avenue West and Greene Street (though technically there are random sections of it that pop up further east) and goes west out to Beck’s Road and I-35, where it gradually disappears.
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Eat Downtown: Duluth Restaurant Week

Duluth’s Downtown Waterfront is richly diverse in the types and styles of authentic food. For seven scrumptious days, May 10 – 16, 2010, residents and visitors of Duluth can take advantage of multi-course fixed-price menus at participating downtown waterfront restaurants.  Lunches are available for $10 and dinner is $20.  This is a perfect culinary showcase for our unique and distinctive downtown waterfront restaurants.

I can’t remember ever seeing a graph of Duluth’s population over time, so I made one. The results of the 2010 U.S. Census aren’t in yet, but the state demographer estimated a population of 85,220 in 2008, so perhaps a slight dip can be expected.

The topic for discussion: What is the ideal population for Duluth?
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We are almost halfway to Lutefisk season, and I just wanted all of our good Wisconsin readers to know that under Wisconsin State Statute 101.58(2)(j)2.f., lutefisk is not a toxic substance in Wisconsin. Bon Appétit!

Please join us this coming Friday to celebrate Duluth Photographer Dennis O’Hara and the release of his first book, Picture Duluth: Photographs of the Zenith City.

Day: Friday, May 14
Time: 7 – 9 p.m.
Place: Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center (Canal Park)
Cause: Ten percent of the sales of “Picture Duluth” will go to support the LSMVC.*
ETC: Author presentation starts at 7:30; refreshments served.

To check out the book, including a online condensed eBook version, click here.

*Special prices on books, and everyone who buys a book or donates just $5 to the LSMVC will receive as our thanks either one of four vintage postcard reproduction art prints or a copy of Greetings from the Arrowhead: the North Shore & Canoe Country.

I have it on good authority that A & Dubs is now open, completing the Trinity of Spring. This is A & Dubs 62nd year in business.

The Prior Lake Rotary Club is proud to announce Jonny Lang, Grammy Award-winning recording artist, as the headline act for the 2010 Lakefront Jazz & Blues Festival on Saturday, July 10.

Above is surveillance video from May 2. Watch as two bucks smash through the doors.
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[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11631756[/vimeo]Ryan from theduluthscene.org presents an 8-second montage from the infamous Friday Rawkers vs. Saturday Rollers Kickball game.

Playback issues?  Turn off HD playback.

Well, now that the booze has worn off, let’s take a moment to reflect on the great Homegrown moments. What were some of the best acts you saw? Biggest surprises?

Pearl Harbor (aging hipster dance party)
Wednesday nights in May at Carmody